Reversing Lives
by Soozin Hevincarrr
Summary: If you were given a chance to take one moment from your life, which would you choose? The single decision could alter your own fate, those around you's fate, even the fate of the world. Nico di Angelo was given the choice. Fate was changed so heavily that Percy Jackson was never the prophecy child. Kronos rose far earlier than anyone expected.
1. Prologue

**I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or anything related to it. This is my story from my SYOC. Further author's note below. These beginning deaths are all reversed. **

**Prologue: A Choice**

Gaea's form crumbled in a thundering avalanche of rocks. The rocks buried the fighters and onlookers, their terrified screams echoing through the air. The battle's wreckage covered streets for miles on end, houses reduced to ashen powder; monuments and temples reduced to rubble and wounded citizens weeping for loved ones.

The giant storm around the foot of the mountain dispersed as the fire surrounding the battle burned away. A boy's unconscious body tumbled down the mountain, but no one was available to help him. Another boy covered by flames fell to the ground, panting with exhaustion, struggling to hold his head up straight. A third boy lay dead on the ground, his face singed and his hand looking like a bird's foot. A girl lay on a boulder with a deep gash in her side, spewing out an endless supply of blood, it was clear that the wound ran through to her heart. Another girl knelt screaming, sobbing over a fourth boy's lifeless form, the girl's back cut and bleeding, but otherwise fine. There was little life anywhere.

A fifth younger boy was falling through the sky, his black cloak billowing above him. This boy looked younger, less injured and calmer. The boy fell without a care, he knew he had saved humanity, he knew if it was his time to pass it was. His eyes were shut gently. His black hair was pulled above him. He plummeted towards the carpet of boulders and rough rocks.

A man emerged from the shadows on top of the mess of rocks and held his arms out as if trying to catch the boy. The man chanted words in an ancient language and the falling boy appeared in his arms. The boy looked shocked as he was placed on his feet again. He stared at the man with dark eyes. The man looked back at him with a smile holding his face together and tears streaming down his face. He embraced the boy and began crying, crying with relief and sadness.

"My son," the man said, his voice wavering, "You're alive." The boy had a tear gliding along his pale face now also, his smile faltering slightly.

"Dad," he whispered and hugged his father back, "You saved me." The father and son held on to each other, dreading the moment they would part. They filled the cold, stale air with warmth and hope.

"I love you son," the man whispered.

"I love you too Dad," the boy whispered, feeling at home after thirteen years of trying to find it.

Lightning flashed in the sky and another man appeared. He looked past the father and son and scanned the area for his own child. He yelled his son's name, Jason, when he saw the unconscious boy on the mountain. He sprinted towards Jason, tears of concern welling up within his eyes.

"My boy," the man whispered, breathing heavily. He scooped up his son and feared the worst, tears escaping his eyes. Jason moaned subconsciously, and his head rolled sideways.

Two more adults materialized from nowhere and ran towards the girl weeping over the boy. A lady who had intense grey eyes wrapped an arm around the girl and let the girl cry on her shoulder. A man with a mess of black hair resting on his head cried over his son's body, his favourite son's body.

"Percy," the man whispered, unable to hold back the tears that streamed down his face. "He was trying to save her," he sobbed.

"He knew the risks and the consequences," the lady said softly, "He died protecting my daughter. He knew he would. Why did I ever doubt him?" The girl with them just sobbed loudly, grief freezing her heart, regret burning her soul.

Another man sprouted from the ground, he dropped his hammer when he saw his son. A man appeared next to him with a spear strapped to his back and angry red fire in his eyes. The men looked at each other and walked together to their sons. They knelt near their sons, the man with a wispy burning beard knelt by the boy who was on fire and quenched the flames while the man with fiery eyes knelt by the boy with the singed face. The men whispered a word of apology to each other tears spilling from their hardened eyes. The men gazed at their sons and did what they hadn't for eons; the men wept. They wept for the loss of a valiant son, who had made them proud, who had made them happy, who had become a hero, only to dwindle trying to save their world.

A final woman appeared at the scene, glowing with unimaginable beauty that would catch the eyes of every man she passed. When she saw her daughter however, the last thing she wanted was to be noticed. She ran over to her daughter, tears already streaking down her face. She sat beside her daughter and brushed the hair out of her daughter's eyes. The woman squeezed her daughter's hand, even though she knew no response was coming. Her daughter took a sharp shallow breath in. Her mother smiled, even though she knew there was no hope to save her child.

"Jason," Piper breathed, "I love him." Her head rolled towards her mother. "I love you." Her mother held herself together for the last moments of her daughter's life. She wanted her to be ok. She wanted everything to be ok. She wanted everything the way it had been before.

"I love you too sweetheart," she managed, her voice quivering. Piper struggled to smile at her mother before her whole body became lifeless.

Hades released his son. One of the three survivors. He didn't know if he would've coped if his only child was taken away from him. His whole body felt warm and light, as if the world had been taken off his shoulders. He looked Nico in the eye and gave a warm smile. He wondered whether he would've responded to his son's death like Pluto did to Hazel's. Hazel had already been dead and belonged with the dead; Pluto hadn't been hurt in any way.

A blinding white light filled the scene and Juno appeared in the midst of them. She looked over at those she had chosen, more than half were dead. Had she made the right people suffer? Had she chosen the right people to defeat Gaea, even if it was the tag-along member who had conquered Gaea? She looked at her husband Jupiter holding his son, appearing distressed and angry. She knew all too well Jason would pass. She looked at Annabeth, the one girl she'd hated from the start. It was clear Percy's death felt like a knife to the heart for her. Annabeth probably wanted to be dead with Percy. She looked at Leo next to his father Hephaestus, whom Juno's Greek form had thrown off Mount Olympus. To see a hardened, emotionless man cry for his fatally wounded son was utterly heartbreaking, no matter how much Juno hated him. She looked at Frank and his father. Frank had died with no idea of what caused his death, his father seemed just as confused, but for once in Mars's eyes, there was no anger, only grief. She looked at Piper, who had taken a blade to save Jason, her one love who was dying regardless. Juno turned to Percy, a true hero who like Piper, had given his life for the one he truly loved. Juno had liked Percy, he was a good man. He had saved the Olympians before and declined immortality, for friends and others who he held close to him.

Juno turned her eyes to Nico. The boy she hadn't chosen the one who had beaten Gaea, the one who always managed to make a spectacular entrance at least expected of times. She hadn't wanted him to be on the quest, let alone defeat Gaea and survive. Juno may not have liked the boy but his actions needed to be rewarded.

...

The burial had been the hardest thing to watch. Seeing all-powerful beings in tears was disheartening. Watching close friends, almost family even, being sent off like a hero was also heartbreaking. Watching Annabeth uncontrollably sob for Percy hurt also. The only good that had come out of the day was Gaea finally leaving, the ends of a long five years of war. Even then it wasn't a day for rejoicing. All of Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood mourned the loss of their faithful heroes.

After the final body was farewelled Nico left the area. Probably because he didn't like crowded places and he didn't want to dwell on the trials Fate had made his life revolve around. He found himself crying rather quickly. Thinking about his sister, thinking about his sort of half-sister, thinking about friends, thinking about a person he'd called his brother, the person he'd trusted most after all his life, Percy. Everyone around him died. Everyone he'd ever classified as a friend or someone he could trust.

Nico wiped away a tear with his torn aviator's jacket. Cold hard memories replayed through his mind. Had there ever been a time he'd felt worry free? He searched every corner of his mind, but found nothing. Never could he remember feeling safe. Never could he remember real happiness. Fate was cruel.

Nico sniffled and decided that he should end his moment of bitter solitude before he found an excuse to die. He walked through the main streets on Mount Olympus trying to pay more attention to the scenery than to his lost friends.

Annabeth designed all this; he thought only causing himself to think about Percy. Percy had tried to take on Gaea alone to save Annabeth. He'd saved her, but hadn't saved himself. Nico began wondering if Percy had tried that hard to save Nico's sister.

Bianca sacrificed herself, Nico reminded himself, she was trying to save everyone else. And unlike Nico she managed to save her team.

Hera's statue is well made, Nico thought, Stop thinking about Bianca! His mind was at war with itself. He wanted to remember his past, but he didn't want the grief that came with it.

"Nico," Hades's voice pushed into Nico's mind.

"Yes father," Nico said, glad for the excuse to end the argument in his head.

"The Olympians are going to reward our heroes now," Hades explained, "You need to come."

"Tell them I don't want to prolong my miserable life."

"You can tell them that yourself." Hades gave Nico a patient smile. Nico followed his father to the throne room.

They emerged into the hall of thrones. So many thrones had been added to the original twelve. Hades sat on his throne next to his brother Poseidon, who still looked grief stricken and depressed. Zeus however looked much calmer and controlled now. Leo, Annabeth and Nico stood in the centre of the huge semicircle of thrones. Every god and goddess in the room was watching them. Nico should've felt proud, instead he felt empty. Zeus rose to his feet in full monumental size.

"I stand here before you," Zeus started his words echoing through the roofless hall, "On a day of much sorrow and mourning. We have watched four of our own children fight and die for us. We have lost Perseus Jackson, who once saved Olympus from Kronos before. We have lost Piper McLean, a loved daughter of Aphrodite who gave her own life to save mine or Jupiter's son, so he could make earth fall by storm. We have lost Jason Grace also, Roman me's son, who single-handedly killed Krios and helped fight off his forces on Mt Tam and fought Gaea valiantly until he had no more to give. We have lost Frank Zhang, a son of Mars the last descendant of Pylos, who died amidst a battle he would've won if fire hadn't taken him. May their stories live on." Nico looked up at Zeus feeling sorry for the guy. He'd lost his own son, and yet he still had to lead Olympus and talk to the last alive of his friends.

"And yet," Zeus continued, "This should be a day of much rejoicing. The second giant war has been won and Gaea has once again been put into her sleeping state. I would like to thank the heroes that stand before us. Olympus would have fallen without you. We have all agreed on what we offer each of you. If you do not accept, we can compromise and move on, your decision isn't ours to make." Zeus sat back down and Hephaestus rose to his feet.

"Leo my boy," he began, "The Olympian counsel has agreed to offer you-" The hall's doors burst open and crashed against the marble pillars either side of them. Three elderly ladies all hunched over and in tattered dark cloaks strode in.

"Nico Di Angelo," one croaked, "You have saved humanity and Olympus."

"We have been cruel to you," another said, "Yet you still fight for those you dislike."

"You have earned a reward," the last said her voice drier than the others, "A reward that has only been offered to one person before."

"That person made the wrong choice and died an untimely death, making him go from greatest hero to no one."

"Your life is still full of challenges you will have to face if you continue along this road. We are giving you the opportunity to change that." The old lady smiled up at Nico. In one heart stopping moment he realised the Fates were offering him a better life. The Fates were willing to remove further trials, but Nico wondered how future trials could be worse than the life he already led. The Fates looked at Nico expectantly.

"Do you accept?" one asked. Nico knew it was wrong, Nico knew he needed to go on with the life ahead of him, the life he was supposed to lead. He wanted happiness and peace so badly though. He wanted friends and family. He wanted some form of comfort.

Nico took a deep breath and thought hard.

"I accept," he decided, speaking softly. The Fates smiled to each other and turned back to Nico.

"We will grant one wish for you," one explained.

"We will take away a moment from your life, only a moment. You will find yourself in a world without that moment. You will not remember life after that moment."

"Choose wisely," the last Fate warned, "Things happen for reasons. Irrational decisions can end fatally." Nico exhaled deeply, wondering which moment to choose. The moment Jason died. The moment Piper died. The moment Frank died. The moment Hazel died. The moment Percy died. The moment Bianca died. Nico had no idea which would benefit him and which would hurt him more. He didn't want to choose something and make everything worse for everyone. He didn't want to forget the friends he'd met and people he'd spoken to. He wanted his memories to last forever. He didn't want to leave them behind.

As the thought entered his mind tears rolled down his face. Out of all the moments in his life, he found one. One that hurt him more than any other. One he would've loved to forget witnessing. One his father would want him to choose as well.

Nico looked up at the Fates, tears streaming down his face.

"I've chosen," he announced. The Fates gestured for him to go on. "The moment my mother died."

**I think I got that bit about Frank's ancestry wrong. Anyway...**

**Hope you enjoyed the prologue. I'll try to get the first chapter up really soon. Sorry, but selected characters won't appear until chapter 2. Please review, I'm serious, you must review. Tell me what you thought of it and stuff... And as required the list of characters, I will still accept PMs with suggestions for bad guys. **

**Mains: **

**Nico (Rick Riodarn), Bianca (Rick Riodarn), Briar ("Me"), Sakirra Mae Li (ParkBomFan), Samuel Areus (Crane's Shadow), Detia Adrina Moesashi (WhenItAllCrashesDown). **

**Bad Guys: **

**Akakious (Idonotget), Dilitria (Soozin Hevincarrr/Myself), Gewaliy (Idonotget), Aikerine (Idonotget), Sophia Anne Wynters (alwaysbeingme98).**

**Others: **

**James (Idonotget), Aria Careena (DaughterOfArtemis2212), Amaya (WhenItAllCrashesDown), Liam (jessigagal137). **

**Please give a review! **


	2. PostPrologue  Changing Fate

**Hey guys, I'm really sorry for the long time no update, but I was preoccupied with things that really aren't important. I'm really happy with the eight reviews I got! (Eight on the first chapter! That's better than I've ever done!) Thanks for all the support and compliments, I hope the story lives up to your expectations, and I'm sorry, but this story will only be updated around once a week, but I will try to have chapters around the length of 4 000 words from now on. And Briar belongs to Perplex Simplicity (happy now?). **

**This chapter is like a post-prologue, basically saying how fate changes and stuff. The next chapter is the actual first chapter. **

**I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians (you never saw that coming did you?). **

**Changing Fate**

Bianca peered around the column to find herself facing dark brown eyes. Nico slapped her arm hard and ran for the furthest column. Bianca jogged half-heartedly after him. It was rather embarrassing to be losing a game of Tag to a ten year old. She would've preferred to be sitting behind the plush sofa where her mother and Harry sat. She was dying to know what they were talking about. They'd been talking so frequently together and Harry recently seemed very jittery and nervous. Every time Bianca tried to ask her mother what they had spoken about, her mother had pushed away the topic by referring to it as "grown-up business", but Bianca knew better.

"You're so slow!" Nico called in a mocking voice. Bianca scowled at her brother.

"I don't want to play," she insisted, folding her arms.

"That's because you are losing!" Nico mocked, making both of them look very much like hypocrites, as only moments prior, Bianca had been winning and telling Nico the exact same thing. She didn't respond. She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"You are so boring now," Nico moaned, walking slowly over to her, "You never play fun games now. You like boring cards." She hated to admit that she agreed with her brother - cards were extremely boring. She loved to act younger and play little-kid games with her brother, but she also liked company her age, particularly after she'd met Victoria. One friend she'd stuck with for more than a month, they'd seemed to have an unbreakable bond, but that bond ended with "Harry wants us to move again." It was then Bianca realised how much of life she'd missed. Sure she got to see every amazing place in the country, but they put no change into her life, no lasting companionship, it was just a pretty picture in her troubled mind.

"I'm bored," Nico whined, sitting down with a heavy exhalation. Bianca responded with an inaudible mumble, with words she was even unsure of, Bianca was just glad it frustrated her little brother. He groaned loudly and acted as if he were dying. Bianca just looked at him.

"I think I will die if I get any bored-er," Nico whined. Bianca crouched next to him and gave him a frustrated look.

"Look Nico," she said still scowling at him. She quickly slapped his shoulder and sprinted away, her insightful word of wisdom echoing through the air, "Tag."

Bianca laughed as she ran around the pillars. When she could be bothered her brother found it impossible to keep up. She ran around a column, coming to a head-on collision with her brother. Bianca said something like "ow" while Nico said something like "you're in" and ran away again. She laughed quietly to herself at just how much difference two years put between people. She rubbed her head and ran after her brother.

Bianca caught up to Nico quickly, but for Nico's sake, pretended she was unable to reach her brother. Nico laughed loudly each time his sister missed him and turned around to face her as she purposefully failed. She poked his right shoulder finally, but before she could run away, Nico whipped around and hit her. They quickly developed a pointless slapping procession, trying to hit each other and move away before the other could strike, but they were too close together to earn even the slightest chance at avoiding their blows.

Bianca chuckled at her brother's hysterical laughter. Her arms stung slightly from the hits she kept getting. She turned her head over to the sofa Harry and her mother had been seated on, only to find that her mother wasn't there. She turned her head slightly again, still slapping her brother, and saw her mum walking up the stairs normally.

Perfectly normal, yet the air seemed tense, like the room had inhaled. Bianca looked back at her younger brother and as if he sensed the change also they both stopped hitting one another. The air seemed hollow as Bianca's breathing sped up. Something was wrong. Nico looked up at his sister with scared wide eyes.

"Bianca," he started, "What's -" His voice faded.

Everything happened in an instant. The whole building trembled. Bianca and Nico hugged each other tightly. A black wall materialised around the two children. An earth-shattering boom sounded throughout the building. Harry released an agonised shriek. The hotel settled and ceased to shake.

Bianca's skin had gained goosebumps from the horrifying moment. Nico was crying and hugging Bianca desperately. She had a tear of her own in her eye. She held her brother close and watched.

The wall of darkness around the children evaporated and left them in a cloud of smoke. Bianca didn't move. Nico didn't move. They were petrified. They couldn't see through the thick smoke.

"Mum," Nico whimpered, beginning to sob uncontrollably. "Mum?" he asked, "Mum!" Their cries earned no response. Bianca started shaking. She feared the worst - their mother was dead. She sobbed with her brother, refusing to let him go. They clung to each other like a lifeline.

A sound echoed through the fog. Weeping. A woman sobbing softly, uncontrollably. As pained as the noise was, it brought peace to Bianca and Nico's hearts. It was a sound they had never heard before, but its voice brought them joy. Their mother was sobbing about something. Their mother was at least alive.

As the fog began to thin out two silhouettes became discernible in the darkness. One was their mother, sobbing over the other that lay lifelessly on the ground. The other could only be one person - Harry. A person Bianca had always thought of as a father was dead. Her heart burned just to see his silhouette on the ground. The strongest man she'd known reduced to a powerless form on the ground. He'd always had an energy about him, he'd always been so alive, but now that life was gone. Ripped from his grasp. Fate, like lions tearing into their victim mercilessly.

Bianca shook with sobs, she quivered with fear. It seemed impossible; he had to be able to come back. People can't just leave forever. Harry always came back for them. He wasn't gone. He couldn't be gone. Fathers can't just leave like that. It was impossible. They had to say goodbye. It was too cruel. How could the hotel just blow up so randomly? Why did it blow up while Harry was there? Why did it have to hurt Bianca's family?

It didn't seem right. Someone else should've been lying there dead. Someone who had no family. Someone who deserved it. What had Harry done to earn such a cruel fate? Bianca wanted to see Harry. She wanted to tell him she loved him that he was like a father to her. But grief had her frozen. Her lungs burned from crying so hard, but the tears refused to yield. She didn't move, she couldn't move. It seemed too unreal. Like a dream, like a nightmare. Too sudden, too abnormal. Her head seemed clouded with shock, or hopefully it seemed light because it was resting on a pillow, waiting to wake up to a sunny morning.

In shock and disbelief Bianca whispered, "Harry," but she knew all too well no form of response would come. Still she hoped.

"He's not dead," Nico whispered casually. Bianca observed Harry carefully. Had Nico seen movement? Was Harry really alive? Yet Harry's body remained as one of Bianca's rag dolls, limp, lifeless, emotionless. She saw the belief Nico had in his eyes; he thought Harry was going to be ok. Bianca sobbed more, wishing Nico's spirits wouldn't have to be crushed.

"He's gone Nico," Bianca managed, "Gone." Nico looked up at her with a puzzled face.

"He's not dead," Nico repeated with innocence. Bianca choked on a sob. He seemed to be mocking her sadness.

"Do you think he's alive?" she questioned, her voice rising, "The whole hotel blew up! Do you really think he's alive?" Anger swelled within her veins. Who could've done such a thing?

"But, he's alive," Nico informed her.

"How can he be alive Nico?" Bianca demanded, "How?" She looked at her brother who suddenly seemed very scared. His sad brown eyes didn't help lift Bianca's mood.

"He just is," Nico whispered, pulling away from Bianca.

"How?" she asked in a desperate whisper, "How?"

"I can feel it," he whispered. Bianca's tears began to cease. Her grief paused for a moment. She warmed with hope. She looked at Harry's form. She blinked back at the few tears that still stung her eyes. Harry appeared dead, that was a certainty, but there was something more. It wasn't so much something that could be seen, rather than felt. It was some sort of connection, something holding Harry's soul to the mortal world. Somehow Bianca could sense it. Not see, but sense. It throbbed after being damaged so bad, but it was there. Harry was alive.

A relieved smile spread over Bianca's face. She jumped to her feet feeling happier than she had in her whole life. She pulled Nico up and picked their way through a maze of rubble to their mourning mother and Harry's body. Bianca walked across a fallen column with Nico to reach their mother. Never had she felt so relieved.

"Wait!" a voice ordered, it was calm, yet it held power, like Harry's only the voice sounded feminine. Bianca turned her head to see a young lady with a head of brown hair full of loose waves. The lady wore a necklace with a silver flower as a pendant. As Bianca looked into her shifting green eyes she knew there was something different about this lady.

"It's not Harry they wanted to kill," the lady said, "My husband wants me to make sure no harm comes upon you. There is little escape from the wrath of your father's brothers. You must come with me to your father's domain to be kept safe." Bianca took no interest in the lady's mind-boggling words. She pushed past the lady and ran to Harry.

"I can take you to your father!" the lady promised. Bianca stopped walking. She wanted to know her father, but Harry had always acted as a father, it seemed that making sure Harry was ok was more important than finding out who her real father was.

"I will make sure the person who did this pays!" the lady offered urgently.

"You can?" Bianca asked suddenly, turning to face the lady again.

"I will," she promised.

"Do I know you?" Nico asked, scrunching his face up. The lady smiled warmly, a smile more pleasant than the first blossom of spring breaking through the winter snow.

"Not yet young Nico," she said, "Come with me. You both have great destinies. I have to protect you." She reached out and took Bianca's arm. A tear slipped from the lady's eye, but nothing else revealed her sadness. Bianca pulled away.

"I need to stay with my mum," Bianca told her.

"I think we should go with her," Nico said. The lady shared another perfect-toothed smile with them.

"How can we trust you?" Bianca questioned, stepping away from the lady.

"I am Persephone, goddess of spring growth. You already trust me to bring flowers back into bloom each spring." She put a hand on Bianca's shoulder. Bianca looked at her. Persephone wasn't real. Her day was too crazy to be real; it had to be a dream. Bianca walked away from her. Nico walked forwards.

"We should go with her," he said plainly to Bianca.

"We don't know her!" Bianca said.

"Harry knows me," Persephone responded softly, "I've promised to keep you safe." She touched Nico's hand gently. "If you want to survive today, you need to come with me now." Bianca didn't believe any of it, but Nico clearly did. He took one of her outstretched hands and looked up at her. Bianca gaped at her little brother in disbelief. Lightning flashed threateningly in the sky above them. Persephone jumped.

"We need to go now!" she said, grabbing Bianca's hand. A bang echoed through Bianca's ears as wind rushed against her face and pushed her into unconsciousness.

The next thing Bianca knew was that, she'd either woken up from her dream or been flipped through oblivion. She was in a hotel room, so it seemed. Just the one she'd woken up in that morning, only without Nico and her mum. Bianca did what any good sister or daughter would do. She jumped to her feet and sprinted to the door. She opened the door and peered outside.

Bianca tried as hard as she could to contain herself as she saw the impossible. Outside the door was a wide walkway, carved into a black cliff face, it ended rather abruptly, Bianca could not see herself trying to walk over it. Worse still, there were no other doors or routes to get to ground level. She could see the lands below, darkened fields of wheat the waved in the wind. The land went on as far as the human eye could see, empty, bland and miserable. Then there were all the strange creatures. One elderly lady with leathery wings and yellowing fangs flew past Bianca. An oversized dog lay curled up on the edge of the cliff face, its snoring sounded like thunder. Bianca's young mind couldn't comprehend the strange new world around her. It scared her. It terrified her.

And as if the earth-shaking snoring wasn't enough to freak a twelve year old girl out, agonised screams echoed through the endless land, the sort that send blasts of freezing needles up your spine. Cries pleading for mercy, cries pleading for an end, cries reflecting pain. They were cries that rattled Bianca's core. The screams made Bianca want to curl up and cry. In fact, that's just what she did.

She sobbed. Utterly confused, scared, haunted, traumatised, disbelieving. It was truly a day she wished she could forget. Maybe she had died with Harry in the explosion. She wept into her knees; her eyes shut tightly, her hands clamped over her ears. She felt that if she saw or heard anything more, her fragile life would tear itself apart. She wanted to leave the place; she wanted it all to go away.

"Bianca," a voice called, sprouting warmth and hope inside Bianca, "You can come to me. Your family is ok." The lady sounded reassuring, but blind faith wouldn't cut it for Bianca.

"Where's my family?" she demanded, "Where am I? What do you want from me?" A comforting hand brushed Bianca's face. Persephone looked down on Bianca with eyes full of sympathy.

"All will be explained in due time," Persephone whispered, "All in due time." As scared as Bianca was, she saw that there was fear in Persephone's eyes also. She couldn't help but wonder what she was worried about. Was Persephone a friend of Harry's? Did Persephone know that the person who attacked the hotel could also attack wherever Bianca was now? Did Persephone know who tried to kill them? Yet Bianca didn't want to ask her those questions, she knew they could easily hit a soft spot and make Persephone really angry.

Persephone lifted Bianca to her feet.

"Bianca," Persephone whispered, "you're a demigod." Bianca blinked a few more tears away, but otherwise didn't respond. She didn't know how to respond. She had no idea what "demigod" even meant!

"Harry isn't actually Harry," Persephone continued, "Harry is your father. Harry is Hades, the god of death who reigns in this land." Bianca had wondered if Harry was her father since she was ten. She believed that easy enough, but Greek gods - they weren't real! No one had believed in them for two thousand years! It was too unbelievable. Too abnormal. Harry wasn't a god. Harry just couldn't be, Bianca had known him all her life, and she'd never seen him perform any supernatural stunts. Bianca still refused to respond.

"Shall we go tell your brother as well?" Persephone asked, "Come Bianca and we shall visit him." Persephone held out a hand, but Bianca refused its grip. Persephone smiled at Bianca, yet agreed to guide her without pulling her by the arm. Persephone guided Bianca down a staircase that had formed in the cliff face at Persephone's arrival.

Somehow, Bianca knew she shouldn't have been walking down those stairs; she knew every step was one she wasn't supposed to take; she knew everything she saw she shouldn't have seen until many years later.

With every step Bianca took, she was getting further and further away from a life she was supposed to lead. Every step she took would change her life forever.

**A.N. So from there I'll give you a quick explanation. Nico and Bianca were transported to the Underworld to be hidden from Zeus. Hades took on the full force of the Master Bolt and has entered a powerless and weakened state. Nico and Bianca are trained in the Underworld for four years and Maria di Angelo visits them regularly (being unable to stay in the Underworld). Persephone becomes a sort of step-mother to Nico and Bianca. Zeus has offered a reward to anyone who can capture or kill the two di Angelo children, as Zeus wishes that the prophecy be about a child of his own. I'm only writing this brief explanation because it would take another chapter to explain it in story form. **

**Sorry for the short passage. Please still review and give me your feedback! My SYOC is still open for submissions (go to my profile to find it). I'm in need of additional minors and bad guys. I have also selected a few more minors and need to credit Perplex Simplicity for her character so, here's the list (again): **

**Mains: **

**Nico (Rick Riodarn), Bianca (Rick Riodarn), Briar (perplex simplicity), Sakirra Mae Li (ParkBomFan), Samuel Areus (Crane's Shadow), Detia Adrina Moesashi (WhenItAllCrashesDown). **

**Bad Guys: **

**Akakious (Idonotget), Dilitria (Soozin Hevincarrr/Myself), Gewaliy (Idonotget), Aikerine (Idonotget), Sophia Anne Wynters (alwaysbeingme98).**

**Others: **

**James (Idonotget), Aria Careena (DaughterOfArtemis2212), Amaya (WhenItAllCrashesDown), Liam (jessigagal137), Anastasia Alexis Moore (A Clouded Mind), Jyn Amelia Maurez (Lia MarieDaughter of Hectate), Adrianna Silver (sarah94306). **

**So remember to review. If I get enough the next chapter will probably be up in a couple of days! PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Soozin**


	3. Lost, Unwanted, and Forgotten

**Hello again guys! This is a really happy Soozin Hevincarrr! Two pages of review in two chapters! This is AMAZING! I love all you reviewers! Okay guys (see that okay right there? I learn from my mistakes ;) new chapter! This is the first official chapter! And there's a huge party at my place for the celebration of the release of that chapter. **

**Yeah, I guess you know by now I'm not Rick Riodarn, and I don't own any ideas or characters from Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I also don't own many of the other characters, of whose creators are credited in the prologues. **

**Chapter 1: Lost, Unwanted and Forgotten**

**~{[Sam's P.O.V.]}~**

Aria appeared in front of the satyr and Anemoi Theulia looking quite upset.

"Whoa!" the storm-spirit exclaimed, "A little warning please."

"You weren't talking about anything Sam," Aria scolded. "Hi Liam," she quickly added, almost seeming to think she might hurt the satyr's feelings.

"Hi Aria," Liam greeted, "What's wrong?" He tried to look sympathetic towards the girl. Aria put a hand just beneath her neck, as if trying to pick a necklace off her chest. The way she always did when she was worried, only usually there was a necklace for her to actually hold.

"I lost my amulet," Aria whispered.

"Get a new one," Sam suggested jokingly. Aria's frown grew wider. Samuel figured he wasn't doing anything to help.

"It was the only thing hiding me from Aleous," she said her ghostly form shimmering; "I don't want to be his servant. He has enough auras working for him." Sam wondered how a locket would protect her from Aleous.

"It'll turn up," Sam tried.

"Or Aleous will claim you first," Liam said.

Great job buddy, Sam thought, you're great at making people feel good. Liam paid no attention to Sam's glares and picked bugs out of the thick goat fur on his legs.

"Who wouldn't claim an aura as beautiful as you?" Liam asked. Aria tried to hide the smile that crept onto her face, whilst her face went so red it looked like a tomato. Sam exchanged a glance with Liam; he saw a hint of rivalry igniting in Liam's eyes.

"Someone who is so perplexed by her beauty that they are incapable of claiming her," Sam answered, raising his eyebrows at Liam and giving a perfect-toothed smile to Aria. She smiled a little more, but her face quickly saddened again.

"What made this amulet so important anyway?" Sam asked, probably sounding annoyed. Aria fingered her neck again; she always wore the necklace, always.

"It was a gift," she explained, "From a satyr." Liam smirked at Sam. "It was enhanced with magic to hide me from Aleous. I didn't want to be a servant, so I took it. It managed to protect me until now. Who knows how soon he'll claim me?" Aria turned to the ground; she hovered a few inches higher.

"What's so bad about Aleous?" Sam asked, even though he hated Aleous just as well. Master of Winds, thinking of that title sent freezing needles up his spine. Much like all storm spirits, Sam hated the wind gods. He loathed them. They seemed to enjoy tearing storms apart with their blasts of air, which only leads to a storm spirit's death.

Aria threw Sam a disapproving glance. Liam answered for her.

"Being a servant isn't quite anyone's idea of fun," he said, "Aleous is particularly good at being bad towards his workers." Sam contemplated the thought.

"Whereabouts did you lose the amulet?" he asked Aria. Aria seemed to breathe a heavy sigh of relief as Sam asked the question.

"That is the main problem," Aria explained. Sam felt the task of finding the amulet get dropped onto his shoulders.

"It was taken from me," she continued. Sam held a silent war in his head for being stupid enough to ask the question.

"Well I guess there's no chance of you getting it back," Sam sighed.

"Show me where it was taken and I'll find it," Liam offered. Aria gestured for them to follow and the aura became translucent again. Sam reluctantly followed; he knew something about this trip was not going to be fun.

Liam trotted beneath the two spirits as they worked their way to the other side of the wood - the one that smelt like monsters, and not because Sam, the Anemoi Theulia was heading that way. Aria came to a sudden halt by a tree trunk and became solid again. The tree was long dead. Its long strips of weathered bark peeling of its hollow trunk and scattering over the forest floor. Its branches were bleak and bare. It cast an eerie feeling over the otherwise peaceful wood. The tree shouldn't have been dead, not then.

Aria held no care for the tree though. Only for the opening in the ground beneath its long twisted roots big enough to fit a grand piano through it. The hole produced a smell much like that of any monster, only a fool would deny a demon hid inside. Just looking at the pit made Sam shudder. There was nothing he hated more than being cut off from open air. He'd heard stories of how other storm-spirits had slowly, painfully dwindled into nothing without being able to gain access to the sky and the water cycle, everything that kept them alive. He was glad Liam had been the one to volunteer. He knew satyrs hated caverns. No natural light, little plant life. But satyrs were only scared, it wasn't death.

"She's down there," Aria whispered.

"Who?" Sam asked.

"The monster who took it," Aria explained, "Aikaterine."

"Never heard of such a creature," Sam said eager to move away from the hole, "It seems your imagination has invented another crazy monster that doesn't exist." Aria shrunk back, feeling rather insulted.

"What did the amulet look like?" Liam asked, placing a hand on Aria's shoulder. Anyone could see Aria jump at his hand's impact. There was no denying Aria loved Liam's warm hand on her shoulder.

"It, uh," Aria tried, "It was, um... It was a-a, a figurine of Heracles." Sam snickered quietly. Only every female aura fell in love with Heracles, it was quite amusing. Liam however, didn't find the idea funny.

"We'll go find it," he reassured Aria, "Won't we Sam?" Sam widened his eyes at Liam.

"I'm not going," he said angrily, "I'm a storm-spirit. I need the sky in sight. Going down there is suicide! And I don't care how much the stupid necklace means to you, I'm not risking my life for it, or your freedom!" He was glaring at both l Liam and Aria now. Aria suddenly looked on the verge of tears. Liam glared back at Sam, fuming.

"You don't care about anyone do you?" Liam stormed, "You're going to ruin everything." He then bleated angrily and spat on the ground.

"Just what am I going to ruin?" Sam asked, sparks popping around his head, "You're the one who's hiding something! Don't lie to me!" He glared at Liam with his dark blue eyes, sparks flying around within them. Liam stared daggers at Sam. Sam knew he was hiding something; it wouldn't be long before they figured everything out.

"I'm not hiding anything," Liam growled, probably a little too angrily. His eyes flashed to the small dagger just poking out from under his shirt. He wondered if it would be worthwhile to take someone's life in order to protect his secret. No one could know about Dilitria. But if he killed Sam there and then, Aria would be able to escape, or Liam would have to hurt Aria. Admittedly, the girl had grown on him. It would probably be best for Liam and his cause if he killed Aria, but she could be expendable.

Sam suddenly realised just how much he was over-reacting. Just five breaths and he regained his composure.

"Sorry," he said, "I just..." His voice trailed off, and so did his thoughts. He looked down the hole. There was no way he was going down. Liam's face came back to its controlled state.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too," Liam said, yet there was still a hint of anger well concealed behind his voice. Liam turned back to Aria, who remained quiet. Her fingers were once again pinching at the side of her neck, but there was still no amulet there.

"We'll go find it," Liam told her. Aria nodded slightly. "You can go wait somewhere," he continued, "We might be a while." Aria's smile couldn't hide itself any longer. She hugged the satyr her smile beaming off her face.

"Thank you," she said.

"Don't mention it," Liam replied. And with that Aria floated away.

Liam turned to Sam.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around," Sam decided. A smile spread over Liam's face, and it wasn't a happy one.

"You won't be seeing me ever," Liam said. Sam raised an eyebrow. Was Liam going to kill himself or do something equally as crazy? The idea was insane. Never in a million years would that happen. The faint breeze rustled the leaves of the trees around them. Sunlight caught a knife, sticking out slightly from just beneath Liam's shirt.

In the blink of an eye, Liam pulled two daggers from his belt, and flipped them towards Sam with deadly accuracy. Sam dispersed into cloud form and felt the knives pass through his cloudy form. They started tugging at Sam, so he quickly reformed. Liam unsheathed another dagger, this one concealed on the underside of his wrist, and pounced on Sam. Sam sent a charge of lightning through the satyr as he made contact. Liam jumped back violently, but was unswayed in his efforts to attack Sam.

Liam now held three blades in each hand. Sam let electricity pulse through his fingertips, ready to strike Liam down. Enough to wound, but not to kill. Sam stepped back and braced for impact. Liam charged with extreme speed. Instead of throwing the blades at Sam and attacking him face to face, Liam pushed up the dying tree and snapped its remaining branches. Only too late did Sam realise he was cornered. The branches were falling right in front of Sam, forcing him to move back or enter cloud-form and risk getting dissipated. He stepped back as branches toppled down the tree, and slipped.

Sam lost his footing and slipped into the hole, luckily he wasn't down far. He tried to crawl back to the surface, but Liam stood in his path.

"You won't be seeing me again anytime soon," Liam sneered, pointing all six of his daggers towards Sam. Sam felt anger pulsing through him. He let every ounce of lightning inside him spark. He readied to strike, but Liam started trotting away. Sam reached towards the surface to pull himself out and hit his traitorous friend.

Something gripped Sam's leg. Sam was yanked further into the hole. His leg was twisted as he was pulled further from fresh air to beneath the ground. Sam could feel his life fading inside him. Pain gripped his heart and ripped at his lungs. Darkness filled his sight. Nothing could compare to the disappointment and anger Sam felt then. Someone Sam had trusted had betrayed him. He'd tried to hurt Sam. He'd tried to kill Sam.

Sam truthfully wanted Liam dead. But Sam's own life was dwindling. He doubted he would survive into the night, let alone long enough to gain his revenge on Liam.

As Sam's life was brought down into the depths of the ground, he felt his soul sink even deeper. Doomed to die ever-so soon. Regrets hit Sam in the face, as he thought over his first life. Did he really deserve to reform after what he'd done? Working for a master had its downsides.

_Why have I wasted his life?_ He wondered, _why?_

**~{[Nico's P.O.V.]}~**

Nico looked over the camp. So bright, so happy, so together, so all-round amazing. He'd been deprived of attending camp for four years. Four long years.

He watched the campers from his tree. They all seemed to get along so well. Yet they refused to accept children of Hades. Something about that wasn't right. Camp had a building for each Olympian and children of minor gods would join the Hermes cabin, not children of Hades. If those campers knew he and his sister were still alive they would've pounced. They would've killed them, and shown no mercy. Zeus wanted the prophecy to be about one of his future children. No child of Hades was allowed to ruin that for him.

Nico watched the children of Aphrodite pass under his feet. If his step-mother knew he'd set foot on camp grounds, he was doomed. But the thought was so tempting. It had been nagging at the back of his mind for four years. Persephone would kill him when he got home.

He watched one girl in particular. She was the Aphrodite cabin counsellor, from what Nico had heard. He watched her lead her siblings towards the archery range, her auburn hair bouncing lightly with each of her steps. Her right leg had a slight limp; Nico couldn't help but wonder how she'd gained the limp. Her face was so beautiful, her eyes so mesmerising, her hands so delicate. Even her name sounded pretty.

Anastasia.

Nico repeated the name in his mind. As much as he wanted to, he knew he'd never be able to talk to the girl; she probably wanted Zeus's reward as much as anyone else. The thought made Nico's heart well up in sadness, or was it disappointment? Nico couldn't bring himself to admit the truth. He did not fancy her. He couldn't. He was only fourteen anyway. Surely emotions at that age were irrational, undecided, incapable of understanding what love really was.

Nico observed the group train. He found it strange to see people train for archery in a group of thirty or so. Clearly there wasn't enough time to teach each camper well, as the majority of the campers were worse than Nico. Some of the older campers tried to guide the younger ones, but they were more trying to show off their own abilities. The children of Aphrodite always seemed so vain to Nico. Yet he'd decided Anastasia was different - she had to be.

Nico climbed onto a more stable branch of the tree, and swung himself down. His face was hidden by the limb's leaves, but his figure was much harder to conceal at only eight feet above the ground. He watched the campers continue to fail at archery - admittedly he envied their freedom. They hadn't been trapped in the Underworld for years, only gaining fresh air in the dim light of night, when the world was cold and mysterious. It seemed so much happier during the day, even the atmosphere seemed lighter.

The campers quickly got tired of training and sat around the archery range, chatting and playing without a care in the world. Nico watched them waste time for a while, before the campers started peeling away from the group. Soon enough, all of Aphrodite's children were leaving. With only a small number of campers still lingering, Nico realised it was the ideal moment to make an appearance.

Nico swung down from the tree's branch with ease, his feet planting themselves firmly in the ground. One of the three remaining campers noticed the sound the tree had made. That one camper happened to be Anastasia.

She whipped around and glared at him with those dark, dark eyes. An expression somewhere between shock and anger crossed her face. Her thin eyebrows frowned. She looked over Nico with disgust. Nico figured it was because he was dressed like a street rat. Worn and dusty clothing, only his knitted vest gave him any sign of looking even slightly worth talking to.

"Who are you?" The way Anastasia asked it made Nico sound like a disease. He tried to subtly tidy the mess of black hair on his head. His nerves were overwhelmed with excitement. He was talking to a camper. He was talking to Anastasia. But when he needed it most all his mind left him. He felt unsure how to approach speaking to her.

"I'm-" Nico tried the word only coming off his tongue after seven seconds of trying to force it off.

"Are you a new camper?" she asked him, her voice returning to the sweet one she'd spoken to with her friends in so many times.

"Um..." was the only sound that came from Nico's mouth. Anastasia found amusement in his uncertainty and gave him a warm smile.

"Have you been claimed yet?" she asked politely.

"No," Nico decided quickly.

"Oh. What were you doing here anyway?" She looked at Nico, the look communicated that she either sensed that Nico wasn't supposed to be there, or that she was sincerely concerned for Nico.

Nico's mind jolted back to life. He needed to some believable excuse.

"I got lost," he lied, "I was with my cabin and got distracted and... I should go find them again." Anastasia gave Nico her heart-melting smile again. She gently brushed her hair with her hand, the one with the dented pinky.

"You can find them at dinner," she insisted, "How long have you been here anyway?"

"A mo- week. A week." It was a lie. Even though he was forbidden to go to camp, he'd been coming and going for a month. He pretty much knew the Aphrodite cabin's schedule off by heart.

"Ah, yes. I guess you don't know many people then. I'm Anastasia, but you can call me Anna." She offered him her hand. He could've said something simple in return like, "I'm Nico," but instead he said nothing. He hesitated. He reached out and gripped her hand in return. It was so smooth, so soft, and so delicate. Nico gave her a firm handshake and, as much as he didn't want to, he slipped his hand back. Anna just looked at him, her smile unwavering.

"I'm sorry," she apologised, "I didn't catch your name."

"Nico," he responded, nodding his head slightly.

Nico should've run for it when he saw the look of utter disbelief on Anna's face. Instead he tried to smile at her.

"Nico," she repeated, "The son of Hades. You're him?" He might've enjoyed the fact that someone knew who he was if it wasn't for the terror on her face.

"You shouldn't be here," she warned. Nico sighed heavily, not breaking eye contact with Anastasia. Her eyes moved their gaze downwards and locked on something. Anxiety pumped through Nico's veins. Her gaze rested on the hilt of Nico's sword.

Anastasia's arm jolted forwards quickly, but Nico unsheathed his lethal blade and stepped back. Nico's blade seemed to absorb the sunlight. Anna stared at him, it was clear she wanted Nico gone. She reached behind her back for her own blade. Nico lunged forwards, and Anna ripped her blade from the sheath tied to her back. She parried Nico's first strike, but whether it was because Nico was much faster, or Anastasia felt sorry for Nico, on his second strike her blade was wrenched from her hand. Nico pointed his sword threateningly at Anastasia's neck. He knew he didn't have it in him to kill a human being, let alone one he'd been hypnotised by for weeks.

"Let me go in peace," Nico demanded his voice a saddened whisper. Anastasia didn't respond. She gazed pleadingly at Nico with her beautiful eyes in absolute silence.

Nico's mistake was lowering his blade. The instant he took his arm down Anastasia screamed.

"ADRIANNA!" she yelled desperately, "JYN!" Nico started running back into the shade of the trees, a place he could shadow-travel in, his heart pounding inside him. A sudden rush of wind whizzed past his ear, and a knife embedded itself in the tree he was running towards. He whipped his head around and found he had more trouble on his hands than he could ignore. Retreat wasn't an option.

Three girls, all of them with the same jaw line and nose were closing in on him. One of the girls had short black hair, and piercing icy blue eyes, but the scary part was the rifle she had pointed at Nico. He had a feeling he did not want to annoy that girl. Another of the girls was holding two diamond knives ready to tear their opponent apart; she had flawless ringlets of golden hair. Admittedly she was stunning, but Nico still considered Anastasia far more beautiful than Blondie. Anastasia stood in between the other two girls; her shimmering bronze sword was back in her hands.

"If you move," the girl with icy eyes growled, "I'll shoot." Nico didn't take it as a joke.

"Drop your sword," Anastasia ordered.

"But she told me not to move!" Nico said, pointing his sword in the other girl's direction.

"You know what Jyn meant," Anastasia growled.

"Jyn?"

"People have names." Anna glared at Nico. "Now drop you sword."

"Why are you so keen on killing me?" Nico demanded.

"Drop," Jyn started, "Your. Sword. Got it?" Nico obliged, but kept his sword at his toes.

"Where's your sister?" Blondie asked, her voice seemed sweet and alluring, a voice so beautiful deserved an answer. Nico resisted the temptation.

"Why do you want her?" Nico retorted. He watched Jyn grip her trigger tighter.

"We're not silly enough to deny ourselves of immortality when it waltzes into our paths," Blondie said.

"Zeus wants you that dead," Jyn muttered.

"You mean..." Nico never finished his sentence.

"Silence!" Anastasia ordered, her tone was extremely forceful, Nico felt more than compelled to perform the task. "You can't ask any questions around us," she continued, "We're all charm-speakers. Now tell us where you've been hiding." Nico longed to answer her question but he knew he couldn't. Anastasia raised her blade to Nico's neck.

"Where have you been hiding?" she asked again. Nico refused to answer.

"Tell her," Jyn growled. Somehow Nico wanted to tell Jyn more than Anastasia.

"Nico," Blondie started, her voice more hypnotising than before, "Where have you been hiding from us? We could've been great friends." Nico lost all the restraint he had on his words. There was something that made him just have to answer to Blondie.

"Persephone hid us in the Underworld," he confessed. The looks on the three girls' faces became that of greed.

"Do I kill him now?" Jyn asked Anastasia. She looked slightly reluctant to answer. She forced a nod, but it seemed harder for Jyn to pull the trigger. Nico used the moment of hesitation to his advantage. He used his feet to flip his sword into his hands and fumbled a catch. The sound of gunshot exploded in his ears. His sword was pushed out of his grasp by the bullet. Jyn fired again, but Nico had already moved to recollect his sword.

Anastasia pounced when Jyn missed. Nico was far too quick. He twisted his sword into her wrist and her sword fell free. He felt his heart sink as the realisation sunk in, that he'd actually stabbed Anastasia. He picked up her sword from her bloody palm, while she screamed curses and clutched her wrist. Jyn ran to help Anastasia, and Blondie took on Nico.

Nico swiped at her knives, but she was faster than he'd anticipated. Blondie not only had time enough to parry his swords, but enough to also make a jab of her own. Nico blocked her strike easily. The sound of their blades scraping against each other filled the air. Blondie kicked Nico's hand upwards. She packed more force into that kick than Nico ever could have. He winced as his blade flew from his hand and onto the ground below.

Nico made a desperate scramble backwards, but Blondie punched his nose, sending pain blasting through it. She dropped her own knife and it clattered against the ground. She punched Nico in the stomach and partially winded him. Nico bit back the pain, and narrowed his eyes at Blondie. He wasn't any good at hand-to-hand combat, but he had to try. He tried to punch her face with all his force, but Blondie ducked under his blow as if she'd spent years training for moments like these. Nico kicked the side of her leg. Blondie winced, but showed no other signs of feeling pain. She retaliated with a punch to his abdomen, but he managed to catch the blow.

Frustrated by Nico's actions, Blondie went for the worst. Nico's cry of pain came out an octave higher than it should have as Blondie's foot made contact. Nico stumbled into the shadows of a tree, fighting against the pain consuming him.

Blondie picked up one of her knives and spat on the ground next to Nico, who was still trying to get back to his feet. She pressed the blade against his throat.

"When you see your sister in the land of the dead," Blondie strated, "Tell her Adrianna daughter of Aphrodite killed you, and that we're coming for her. There is no place for children of Hades at this camp. There is no place for rebels against Zeus in this world." Nico couldn't admit to the humiliation of being beaten. He wouldn't accept the fact that a girl had beaten him. He refused.

With a final surge of mortal dread and adrenaline through his aching body, Nico guided the shadows to him. Darkness consumed him.

He appeared at the doorway to the dining hall in his father's palace. He sat there for a while, regaining his composure from the pain that still throbbed through him. He felt so weak curled up on the floor, and thinking about that girl who'd called herself Adrianna-'s warning. She wanted him and his sister dead. The thought sent shivers up his spine. Adrianna could've killed him, if she'd tried harder.

Nico heard his sister and his step-mother Persephone talking in the dining room. He tried to focus on their conversation instead of his pains and concerns. But his mind was too stirred up to focus on any one thing.

Then the door opened. Nico awaited the wrath of his step-mother.

"Nico!" Bianca's voice cried, "Where have you been? We were worried! You're always so reckless with shadow-travelling. Training was only supposed to last half an hour today!" Her tone sounded slightly scolding, but she restrained her anger because Persephone was there. Nico felt Persephone's shadow spread in the room. He groaned in anxiety and frustration. It would've been so much better if he'd just done what he'd been told and shadow-travelled in and out of the grocery store.

"Where have you been?" Persephone's powerful voice questioned.

"Would you believe Germany?" Nico tried, his voice annoyed and pained.

"You do look like you've been through a warzone, but I doubt you would've been able to shadow-travel across the Atlantic Ocean." Nico could feel Persephone's disappointed eyes resting on him.

"Nico," Persephone scolded, "You're not invincible. Your father is still recovering from the blow Zeus's master bolt gave him four years ago. Your mother lives nearby in streets filled with untrustworthy people, just to be near you and to know you're safe. You can't play games with your powers." Nico could feel his own frustration setting in again. He moaned again hoping his step-mother could get something out of nothing.

"Nico, tell me where you were." Her tome was much more forceful this time, and Nico knew he couldn't hide.

"Camp Half-Blood," Nico admitted softly.

"Pardon?" Persephone asked.

"Camp Half-Blood," Nico repeated, louder this time. He watched Bianca's shadowy eyes widen.

"You're insane Nico!" Bianca said.

"What happened?" Persephone demanded.

"I got found," Nico muttered. He swallowed heavily. "They know where we are," he admitted, "They forced it out of me. They know we're hiding here, in the Underworld." He looked at his step-mother guiltily. Bianca looked utterly terrified. Persephone, however, just looked worried.

"I hate prophecies," she grumbled, "If they know where you are Nico you must leave. You and Bianca. It's only a matter of weeks until Bianca turns sixteen, and then this forsaken prophecy will finally be over. It is Bianca's prophecy to fulfil. It can't happen any other way-" (A.N. Heh heh heh... yes it could. Heard of Percy Jackson?) "-You need to leave now."

Nico let the words sink in. After four years of waiting, he would leave the land of the dead.

"Gewaily!" Persephone called. Within a matter of seconds, Persephone's favourite servant was by her side. The lampad nymph who once carried torches for Hectate had a look of paranoia on her face. Hectate and Persephone had betted on pegasus races, Persephone won Gewaily. Gewaily looked quite abnormal to any average human, coal coloured skin that actually looked as solid as coal, and red hair like a raging fire that stood on strange angles and would flicker constantly, much like an actual fire. She held her torch above her head. Her torch was almost as strange as her. It had a calm purple flame inside it, but if you looked closely at the fire you could see all sorts of haunting images, that were capable of driving any average person insane, but children of Hades were resistant to its power.

"Guide Bianca and Nico out of this realm," Persephone instructed Gewaily, "Take the third exit."

"The third exit," Gewaily repeated blankly.

"Can I recover a bit longer?" Nico asked.

"Aw, does wittle Nico need a nap?" Bianca mocked. Nico only glared in return, causing Bianca to smile triumphantly.

"Nico," Persephone began, "You can rest when you're safe. You need to move. Help will find you." Nico just gave Persephone a confused glance. Reluctantly, he rose to his feet and turned back to his step-mother.

"When do we come back?" Bianca asked. A saddened expression crossed Persephone's face.

"I fear you may not," she said, "Now go! We can't risk giving that pathetic camp any more excuse to gain on you!" And with those comforting last words, Gewaily guided Bianca and Nico away from their step-mother.

**~{[Briar's P.O.V.]}~**

Brair slumped beneath his oak. Not long ago his bond to his tree had been severed. The last child of Pan was probably the one Pan hated most. Not only had Pan cursed Briar to be the only male dryad, and killed his sixteen sisters, but had severed the bond between Briar and his tree. Briar wasn't even going to think about Pan's warning. He didn't want to think about his mother's death.

Briar looked over the wood he'd dwelled within his entire life. He saw the hollow remains of his sisters' trees. Storms were merciless, and to think Pan was the one who'd wanted it done. The only living things left in Briar's part of the wood were his tree and the humble stream that zigzagged its way through the wood. Scattered around the clearing were the torn and burned trees, no creatures dared come near the area, even the grass failed to grow. There was almost no chance that the area would ever recover from the storms' attacks.

Brair shifted the bow slung over his shoulder, his only true friend, someone who wouldn't fail him like his pathetic father Pan had. Briar had named his bow Reginald. Reginald liked the name, and so it stuck. Reginald would always be there for Briar. To Briar it really didn't matter that Reginald was an inanimate object.

Briar set Reginald on the ground beside him. The sun was setting. There was really no better time to rest for a tree. Those final weak rays of sunlight were so soothing. But then Briar heard a splash. He groaned inwardly. He knew what was coming. He sat up straighter against his tree and hastily flattened the hair at the back of his neck over an angry red scar, no doubt from Pan, and tried to look slightly happy about the Oceanid's appearance.

"Hey Briar," the Oceanid greeted, pulling herself out of the water. Her dark hair was dripping with water, wrapping around her oval-like face.

"Hi," Briar said, trying to sound happy, "What brings you here on this alright afternoon... evening Amaya?"

"You'll never guess what I heard," Amaya teased.

"Yes, you're right, I won't," Briar sighed, "If you heard someone say that flying rhinos had been spotted in China you'd say that exact sentence." Amaya looked offended.

Mission accomplished, Briar thought, leaning back against his oak.

"Zeus is angry again!" Amaya blurted.

"When isn't Zeus angry?" Briar asked, "That's all the gods do with their time. They're heartless and vain. They only care for their own pleasure." It almost felt as if the scar shaped like the mark of Pan on the back Briar's neck was burning again. Briar had gone through his whole life like Pan's punching bag, any anger Pan had was taken out on Briar. It was all because of his mother, Maple. But Briar wasn't scared of Pan's constant wrath, he was angry. He hated every ounce of Pan's soul. Nothing could sway his hatred towards Pan.

Amaya looked shocked by Briar's response.

"Funny," Briar remarked, "That sounds sort of like Detia. Heartless and vain." Amaya giggled at Briar's failed attempt at humour, but when she looked above Briar's head she burst into a fit of laughter. Briar followed her gaze and laughed at the coincidence. Sitting on the remains of one of Briar's sisters' trees sat Detia, a look of extreme flaring in her amber eyes.

"What did you say?" Detia questioned, her fiery red hair seeming to flicker.

"That you were heartless," Briar explained showing no emotion. Detia wasn't happy with the answer she got. Anger was still flaring across the Pyroead's elfin features. Amaya, however, found it all quite funny and burst into even harder laughter.

"Shut up," Detia spat at Amaya. Amaya still struggled through an outburst of silent giggles.

"What brings you here?" Briar asked Detia in a more accusing manner than a polite one. Detia scowled at him.

"I wouldn't expect you to know or care," she responded in an equally impolite manner, "You're a boy, and a nymph." She snorted in amusement at the thought. A male nymph, what was the world coming to?

"I'm a dryad," Briar corrected, "But I wouldn't expect someone as ugly as you to know the difference." Detia was outraged. Amaya wiped a tear of laughter from her bright blue eyes.

"A dryad is a nymph," Detia spat, "But at least I'm humble enough to let you believe what you want to." She jumped down from the tree's shell. "We've let you live under the illusion that Pan is a terrible being, but really, everyone would give anything to get him back. I bet you didn't know that." She stared Briar straight in the eye, with disgust. "You probably didn't even know that Hades has been powerless for the last four years." Detia started pacing around Briar. "And you wouldn't have any clue about what happened today." She leaned into Briar's ear and added in a whisper, "The storms that killed your sisters are back." Briar felt his heart speed up. If the storms were coming back, he was going to utterly destroy them. He wouldn't wait for the spirits to come to him, he would seek them out and annihilate every last one.

Detia smiled at the expression of fury on Briar's elfish face. His pointed ears had turned bright red with rage. Amaya looked at the two other spirits. As much as she liked both Briar and Detia, they really weren't being all that nice to each other. It wasn't necessary that Detia ever bring up Briar's sisters though. That was the one thing Amaya knew for sure about Briar.

"Detia," Amaya started, "I bet you don't know what I heard today." The pyreoad glared at Amaya with foreboding. The two nymphs were both secretly scared of each other. One false move and they could have had each other dead. Water never works well with fire.

"Amaya," Detia said with false excitement, "Shut up," she finished in a much more resentful tone. Amaya didn't obey.

"The children of Hades are alive!" Amaya blurted.

"What?" both Detia and Briar asked.

"They were killed years ago by Zeus! The blast almost killed even Hades! Only that mortal woman survived!" Briar pointed out. Excitement welled within all the nymphs (sorry, and dryad). Little did the gods, demigods and mortals know what the nature spirits had been sensing for the past four years. There had been a disruption. A new force in earth. One of nature, yet not of nature. And the rest of nature knew it couldn't have been a good sign. And the force had been growing, both in number and strength. Nature knew it was the great prophecy. There was no other explanation, the prophecy was unravelling. But the gods refused to hear the spirit's words. No help was offered. All nature had been able to do was wait for this new force to unveil itself, or for a child of the eldest gods to reach sixteen.

"It's true!" Amaya continued, "The younger one was found at the demigod camp today!"

"But they would've killed him," Briar said.

"They tried, but the children's' powers have matured. He can control the shadows! He escaped with his life." Amaya appeared overly excited. Detia wasn't as convinced as the other nymphs. Amaya would believe almost anything; the thought of the two children of Hades being alive was barely believable!

"What if it wasn't actually him?" Detia asked, "No one could know for sure if it's him." She lowered her brow.

"We can only hope," Amaya sighed, "But I bet it's him."

"You sound like you're in love," Briar said. Amaya looked to the ground as if ashamed. Briar smirked.

"Did you even see this guy?" Detia asked, "You know the children of Hermes will lie about anything." Amaya looked more ashamed.

"Well if it is this 'prophecy child'," Briar began, "I'm not going to sit around and do nothing. And if it's not him, I guess I'll be wasting my time. I'm leaving this stupid tree. If Pan wants me to be paranoid, I'm not going to be." Briar slung Reginald back over his shoulder and refastened his quiver on his back.

"Me and Reg are going to go save the world!" Briar finished, and started picking his way through the singed remains of his sisters and pressed on into the tangled and lively part of the wood. Admittedly, leaving his tree felt as bad as leaving behind a loved one, but there was no fear inside Briar, no regret, only burning determination.

**~{[Sophia's P.O.V.]}~**

Sophia sat on the end of the table, unamused, unsurprised, unhappy, and unforgiving towards the campers around her.

_One more day,_ she told herself, that's _all I have to cope for. Then I will gain my revenge._ A smirk spread over her paling face, revealing her untidy teeth.

Sophia dropped her gaze back to the table. Meticulosus Terra Daemon would conquer. The element of surprise would work more than well in their favour.

Sophia heard the voices of anxious campers flying through the air. Tensions were high after the di Angelo boy turned up at camp. He had two good years left before the prophecy; there was no threat in him. The Aphrodite girls had almost managed to kill him. He would stand no change against the army.

Sophia's cruel teal eyes locked on a crack in the wood of the table. Just a small fracture could cause the table to collapse if any more pressure was applied to it. Camp was just like that table. One crack would make it falter. It would make their force collapse.

_Divide and conquer,_ Dilitria's words had been. Divide and conquer. It wouldn't be hard with the unbelonging half of the campers felt. Sophia had once felt the same unbelonging, but she had found her strength, she had found a purpose, and a cause. Soon every camper that had thought little of her power would be kneeling before her. Never underestimate a child of Zelus.

A camper by the name of Lewis Blackthorne, a son of Hectate gave Sophia a friendly smile. He knew the same unbelonging feeling Sophia had once had; no doubt he had been mistreated by his fellow campers also. He sat at the crowded Hermes table, quite some distance from Sophia, but Sophia recognised a distance in his eyes. He felt distant from the other campers. The Camp Half-Blood unit was already fractured.

Sophia turned back to her empty plate. She knew where the fracture lines were. Camp was unstable. Unreliable. It would have to be abandoned sooner or later. Fortunately, destruction worked just as well as isolation.

**If you have any comments, questions, suggestion, or criticisms on how your character was portrayed, please PM me. It'll be a lot easier to discuss things than if you leave thoughts on your character in your review (which you will submit). Please review anyway and I hope you enjoy reading. Let's see if we can keep this a page of reviews for each chapter! (It's never going to happen, but hey, it was worth a shot!) **

**There may not be another update for a while. My school is starting again and I need to get back into routine. So yeah... Review and I'll update later!**


	4. Empty Words

**Hi guys! Sooooooooooooo infinitely sorry for the reaaaallllllyyyy long wait for this not-so-long-or-gripping chapter! I'm really sorry. I had the chapter written ages ago, I just got distracted, and recently a beautiful person favourited the story, which brought my attention back to it. So thank you to Miss Technicality. I'm really happy with the reviews you guys sent, and I'm hoping so bad that this story doesn't dissappoint. Get reading! **

**Chapter** **2: Empty Words**

~{[Sakirra's P.O.V.]}~

Sakirra's feet ached from running so hard. Her lungs heaved violently. The canyon's terrain was merciless. She could still see little James sprinting behind her, his childish spirit still full of hope and life. The poor kid had lived a hard life. Abandonned alone, and now Sakirra had led him to his death - being cornered, and devoured by hellhounds.

The scenery was nice though. Had Sakirra been going around this canyon any other day, she would've stopped to admire the scenery numerous times. The red-brown dirt covering the ground like a velvet cloak, that moved with the wind. The stunning deep crevase that curved through the land, almost as if Zeus had gotten angry and cut the ground with a giant jagged blade. The place had a strange beauty to it.

Sakirra only hated the view she got when she looked over her shoulder.

The hellhounds, cruel and inexhaustable. Their hungry jaws baring ugly fangs, tinged with the crimson blood of their previous opponents. Sakirra and James were next. The hellhounds' snarls pierced Sakirra's ears with such fear, she could've curled into a ball right there and then, but she held it together.

For James. Her only friend over long days of hiding. The little boy, barely in his double-digits. Sakirra couldn't just leave him. She could've run faster than the wind had she wanted to, but she couldn't leave James. She knew what it was like to be forgotten and rejected by those you once thought of as friends. It hurt more than any pain imagineable.

Sakirra peered back over her shoulder to see where James was. His dirt covered face was bright red from running so hard, his blonde hair messier and more knotted than Sakirra had ever seen it. Yet the boy pushed through his exhaustion, along the empty and coarse dirt trail into desolate land beyond.

The cliff face they were approaching was more than threatening. They would either be overtaken by the hellhounds and be consumed, or fall to their deaths. Sakirra really didn't want to think about either option. Both wouldn't do them any good.

Then, out of nowhere, something caught Sakirra's eye. A small construction set over the canyon. She let out a silent cry of gratitude to whoever had put the bridge there. No sight had ever been more welcoming. The hellhounds would be too bulky to cross it, or even fit onto it in the first place.

Sakirra turned to James, a relieved smile spreading over her face.

"Head for the bridge!" she yelled to him, ignoring the hellhounds bounding after them. That was where Sakirra made her mistake. James had always had hearing troubles. He wouldn't be able to properly understand what she was saying at the distance they were from each other. One of James's eyebrows raised.

"Off the ridge?" he called back, "Okay!"

"No!" Sakirra yelled.

"Was that 'no' or 'go'?" James asked. Sakirra just stared at him, because answering his question would've only confused the boy more. She was desperately hoping he somehow got the message. He didn't.

With hellhounds bounding after him, he veered right sharply, running straight at the canyon's edge. Sakirra sprinted back towards him, she wasn't worried about sprinting closer to the hellhounds, she had to stop her friend. She used the wind to push herself fowards faster. She found herself screaming after James. He looked over his shoulder at her a couple of times, but the boy was confused and afraid. He wanted to get away from the hellhounds, and he really wasn't going to observe the risks, it wouldn't have helped that he was a child of Atë (goddess of reckless behavior).

The hellhounds slowed as they turned to follow, this gave Sakirra a small speck of hope, if only she could convince James to run in a zig-zag pattern. But time was quickly diminishing. James approached that ledge faster than Sakirra could herself, even with the wind on her side.

The hellhounds released another chorus of ear-splitting barks. James didn't slow in his path, nor did he veer further left, nor right. Sakirra screamed out to him, but his bad hearing left him unsure of her words. With her heart pounding inside her chest, Sakirra gave a final effort to push herself closer to James with the wind. No such effort worked. James kept running. That ridge was drawing far to close for Sakirra's liking.

"JAMES!" Sakirra screamed, trying to get him to stop. She was lucky he didn't heed to her words, for the hellhounds were closing in on him, he would've been devoured by them if he'd stopped running.

"STOP!" Her desperate cries were unanswered. The canyon's edge was an arms distance away from James.

Then the inevitable became reality. James didn't even hestitate as he leaped off the cliff, but the look on his face told you of his fear. In a heart-stopping moment, he was gone. The hellhounds pounced at the falling boy, but instead they fell themselves.

"JAMES!" Sakirra screamed, "NO! COME BACK!" She knew he wouldn't.

She ran out to the ridge and peered over it. She could see only the winding river, that would hit James like concrete. She shook her head muttering "no" repeatedly. She didn't want to believe James was gone, but there was little hope he could possibly be alive.

Sakirra threw herself off the cliff, not even considering how un-ladylike cliffdiving was in a dress. She pulled the winds to slow her descent. The harsh air whipped around her, biting into her skin.

Don't let him be gone, Sakirra pleaded silently, Let him live. Let him be okay.

Finally her feet hit the shallows in the river. Taking no note of the water reaching her knees, Sakirra plunged into the lake in desperate hope to save her companion. She kicked her legs through the cold water, her attempts getting her nowhere, for she had no idea how to swim.

Her head broke the surface again. She gasped for air and dunked her head under a second time. Water stung at her eyes as she tried to open them. She flailed her legs wildly, trying to get into deeper water. Water worked its way into her throat. She broke the surface again, coughing and spluttering, gasping for the air she lacked.

"JAMES!" Sakirra screamed again, but she knew all hopes for him were lost. She slammed her fists at the water in anger, only managing to splash herself in the face.

The current tugged at her legs. The water slowly started turning brown. Though Sakirra knew blood was not brown, she started screaming for James again, fearing something terrible had happened to him. Had the hellhounds eaten him underwater? Then the thought occured to Sakirra, where were the hellhounds?

She whipped her head around in every direction, her heartbeat speeding up by the second. She could almost feel the hellhounds' darkened eyes resting on her back, just waiting to pounce. They couldn't have just vanished!

Sakirra could feel tears stinging at her eyes. She had to help him! He couldn't be dead. Not yet. There had to be some form of air still resting in his lungs. There just had to.

She took in a deep and shaky breath, before she plunged into the river again. She swam further out into the river than she had the last times, but she miscalculated the risks.

The current swept Sakirra away like a rag-doll. It held her beneath the surface, constricting against her lungs, burning them like a hot iron.

In her sudden moment of panic, she tried to inhale, but only got a mouthful of murky water, that tasted less than nice. She kicked her legs with all her might, but the water was stronger than she was.

The constricting pain in her lungs soon became overwhelming. Her body became numb. Her head felt light and dizzy. Her efforts to push out of the water dwindled. Her mind became foggy.

After what felt like hours of torment and pain, Sakirra slipped into the realms unconsciousness.

~{[Sam's P.O.V.]}~

The monster wasn't the thing in the cave that scared Sam, it was all the Heracles. Whether it was an ancient vase, a life-sized statue, a sword with his name engraved into it, or a sack of flour made by the brand "Heracles", it would've found its way into the cave.

The cave itself probably would've been very eerie, had Heracles not dominated every surface. The cave's interior was covered with webs. Thick icy webs. No stalactite or stalagmite had escaped getting covered with webbing. Just moving your arm would make you break a web and get its fragile wrapping all over your wrist.

Heracles just ruined its fearsomeness. His cheery face hung from webs in various places, items of random Heracles merchandise was scattered the floor, clay statues decorated every corner. No inch of the cave escaped Heracles. The monster that inhabitted the cave was very clearly obsessed.

Sam should've been dead. He could smell the Underworld. Being that far underground should've torn his life from his body. Sam knew that if he ventured deeper he'd be dead. He could feel his soul tearing. The pain was almost unbareable, burning at his heart, tearing at his head. He was drained of his power. He would've loved nothing more than a nice pillow for him to rest his head on. No such gift would come for him though.

Sam heard something shifting nearby. He jerked back to life, from his exhausted state. He held his heavy eyes open, determined not to blink. He could distinguish the faint "pop pop pop" of the monster crawling through the cavern. No doubt the monster wanted to play with its "pet" again.

Then the monster emerged into Sam's line of view. The monster was, well monstorus. It was unlike any monster Sam had ever seen. If you stared at it's neck you might've thought it was slightly normal, but any other part of the creature was purely abnormal. She had the torso of a human, clothed in only an overly large apron. It had swamp green scales where its skin should've been, that looked only as strong as chainmail.

Then there was her abdomen. It was that of a spider, a human sized spider. It was covered a mess of spiky brown fur, along with the eight legs that sprouted from it.

Then you were drawn to her face. It wasn't only abnormal because it was covered in thin scales, or because its nose was merely two slits, but because of her eyes - all four of them. Four round milky white eyes. It was a wonder they'd all managed to cram onto that forehead.

Sam wanted to curl up in his corner and vanish, that was unfortunately, not an option. He struggled against his bonds slightly, but he was tired, so his efforts proved more than futile. He didn't enjoy being this creature's "pet", nor did he like the conditions he was kept in. So far from the sky... so, so far from that blue sky.

"Hello honey," the demon greeted her voice a piercing hiss, "Do you want to see your room now?" she asked, "Mumsy Aikaterine will take you to your room." Sam wanted to speak up, but his mind was too tired to think of a comeback. He just shot deadly looks at Aikaterine.

"Get up," Aikaterine instructed, "Don't make mumsy drag you there." Her four eyes locked on Sam. A shiver ran up his spine as the sickening eyes stared at him. He looked cautiously at his legs. Aikaterine had dragged him by the legs into the centre of the cave, and Sam's legs were not in any good condition at that point. He turned back up to Aikaterine, all four of her eyebrows were angled down.

"Shut up," Sam said, "I'm not going any further into this foresaken cave." He leaned back against the cave wall, causing webs to tangle into his hair. He ignored Aikaterine's glares and closed his eyes gently, in subtle attempt to hide the fear swirling inside them.

"I might as well just eat you now," Aikaterine muttered. Sam's eyes jerked open. Eat him? Was her mind more disturbing than her appearance?

"I wouldn't advise eating me," Sam suggested, "I'm awfully tasteless." The expression that crossed Aikerine's face told him his words had made no contact with her mind. Aikaterine was going to wind up eating him.

Aikaterine stepped closer to Sam, letting him inhale her putrid breath. It smelt like the rotting corpses of victims of war. She poked Sam's legs with one of her own jagged, arachnid legs. She jumped backwards as if she'd been shocked by electricity, in fact, that's pretty much what happened.

Sparks danced across Sam's frame. There was still something left in him.

"Come any closer and you'll get a bigger shock," Sam threatened. Aikaterine suddenly looked more than happy.

"I've been waiting for this moment forever!" Aikaterine exclaimed dancing around on her eight legs. As much as Sam liked it when girls liked him, what Aikerine said disturbed him thoroughly.

"Uh..." Sam started backing away slightly from Aikaterine.

"Isn't it great that they're finally here?" Aikaterine asked.

"What are you-" But Aikaterine wasn't talking to Sam.

"I think it's truly wonderful!" Aikaterine said, "Now I won't be so lonely. I'll have someone to sing to forever." She went on talking about how splendid she would find Sam's company, answering her own questions, at one stage she even insulted herself and retaliated.

Sam edged further into the web-lined wall while Aikaterine went on talking to herself. If only he could find his way out of there. Part of him asked "what about the amulet?" but Sam just wanted to get out, and get out fast. Aria could get her amulet herself.

Sam scanned the cavern. He saw only one exit. A small opening in the wall opposite him. If he could just dash fast enough-

"I'm going to call him Heracles!" Aikaterine declared. That caught Sam's attention.

"I already have a name!" he spat.

"Let's take him to his new home shall we?" Aikaterine asked herself. She quickly turned around and something sticky gripped Sam's legs. He was yanked forwards, making him fall on his face, and his pains return to him.

Aikaterine started strolling forwards and Sam started sliding forwards. He lifted his head an inch, and saw the webbing around his legs, pulling him along behind Aikaterine, further into the dark cave.

He suddenly felt too weak to walk. Going deeper into the cave was not doing the storm-spirit any good.

Aikaterine kept up her pace until they reached a smaller area in the cave. By that stage Sam had almost lost consciousness. His vision was hazy and his ears were ringing. When they stopped, he barely noticed.

What he did notice though, were the sounds that pierced through the ringing in his ears. A soft, beautiful, mournful melody. Each note was hit with crystal clear pitch, echoing through the shadowy cave breaking through the empty silence. The song was so captivating that it left goosebumps in Sam's arms. A wave of coldness swept over his body as the rich melody hypnotised him. Slowly, gently, the song lulled him to sleep, letting him slip into the hands of fate.

~{[Briar's P.O.V.]}~

It had only been an hour since Briar had left the wood, and already he had picked up unwanted company. He would've prefered to walk alone to the entrance of the Underworld rather than walking with a persistent Detia biting at his heels.

"Were you having a whole conversation about me before I came in?" Detia was asking.

"No," Briar answered, sighing inside himself.

"You said I was vain and heartless! You'd obviously been talking about me." The temperature around the Pyroead was rising, flames were even flickering across her head.

"For about two seconds."

"I know you weren't. You were probably going on about me for a whole twenty minutes." Briar could feel Detia's glares resting on the back of his neck. As the thought occurred to him, he quickly brushed his hair down again. No one could see that scar.

"Probably judging me for talking to that satyr for too long," Detia muttered, "And critisising-"

"You're right Detia," Briar interupted, "My social life is so sad, I have nothing better to talk about than a nymph who follows me around everywhere, because I'm too stupid to create a conversation about disturbances in nature, all-important prophecies, wars that the gods aren't involved in, or anything else. I just have to talk about Detia because she's the centre of the universe!" Detia gave no response to Briar, but he could almost see her fists clenching and her eyes scowling at him intensely. She didn't like being accused of being vain.

They walked along in silence for quite some time after that. Detia was biting her lip back and constantly scowling at Briar. Briar was humming cheerily as they walked along, lightening the dreary atmosphere Detia was creating.

Their walk was rather dull and uneventful until they came to a canyon. They'd been walking for a couple of hours by that stage, and were both eager for a break, but it wasn't the clean river that made him want to stop for a moment. The disturbance in nature that had always seemed so faint suddenly seemed fresh, almost as if it had made itself part of the ecosystem the area provided. Detia had also noticed its stronger scent, its stronger grip on the environment, as she stopped glaring at Briar and started glaring at the river instead.

"Something's not right," Detia murmured.

"Is there?" Briar mocked. Once again Detia went silent and scowled. Briar gave her a smirk. He strolled over to the river, Detia was hesitant to follow. Fire doesn't run in water.

Briar strode ankle-deep into the river and watched the sun dance above the horizon. He decided that he'd rest there that night. No one would follow them from through the woods, and a canyon surrounded the rest of the river, no one would risk jumping down to attack them.

There was a splash to Briar's left. He would've normally expected Amaya to emerge from the river, but they were already far from her springs. Then to his left, coughing and spluttering sounds started up.

Much to Briar's surprise, when he turned to the source of the coughing, he saw a young boy, sopping wet, and absolutely exhausted. The boy had fresh cuts all over him, all luckily shallow and only bleeding slightly. The boy wore a shirt that might've been white once, but was now stained with so much dirt it was brown. As for his pants, they were ripped to only reach the boy's knees, also dirt covered and fraying.

The boy collasped and rolled onto his back, his heavy panting audible from metres away. The boy had clearly had a very rough time, so Briar, like any other sane person would, approached the boy and knelt next to him. The boy's eyes were closed, but rimmed with the darkest of shadows.

"Are you alright?" Briar asked hesitantly. The boy opened his eyes slightly and squinted at Briar.

"Are too alight?" he muttered, "I don't get it." The boy seemed to focus on Briar more through his quinted eyes.

"Are you alright?" Briar repeated, much slower and louder than before. The boy nodded.

"I guess so," he groaned, "Who are you? You look like a elf... Or a nymph, one of them."

"I'm Briar," Briar stated, "I'm a dryad, not a nymph."

"Oh, okay."

"Who are you?" Briar asked the boy.

"I'm James," he said, "I think Sakirra said "to the bridge" now..."

"Who?" Briar asked. James sat himself up and rubbed his eyes.

"No, not me, Sakirra," James corrected. Briar was only more confused, but James didn't notice.

"Have you seen the hellhounds?" he asked, "They followed me... I think..." The boy screwed up his face again and looked around. "My arm hurts."

"I haven't seen any hellhounds," Briar said, "I haven't heard any either." He couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for the boy.

"Who's that?" James asked, nodding at Detia's direction, sending the conversation on a completely different course.

"That's Detia," Briar told him, "She's a pyroead."

"I think she's ugly," James said, with an unchanging tone. Briar smiled.

"I'd love to see you tell her."

"I'd like to tell her. She might decide not to show her face in public again." Briar raised an eyebrow.

It might also gain you an enemy for life, he thought.

"Where were you going?" Briar asked.

"Air were oo gone?" James muttered.

"Where were you going?" Briar repeated louder.

"I don't know," James answered. "Sakirra knew. I never know where we're going. Everyone hates us."

"Why do they hate you?"

"I don't know... Scary things follow us. People don't like that. Sakirra says I'm a 'demrod'."

"Demigod?" Briar questioned.

"Yeah."

"So you have nowhere to go?" Briar clarified. James nodded slightly.

"I'm really hurty," he moaned.

"BRIAR!" The sound of Detia's shriek made Briar flinch. He turned his head cautiously towards where Detia had been standing. Detia's hair had turned to a flickering yellow, which usually meant she was scared. Her hands were clasped over her mouth and her eyes were fixated on the clay ground.

"What?" Briar called, to his great annoyance.

"The ground," Detia said. "It's the disturbance. It's not right. The clay isn't..." Her voice trailed off.

"I'm bored!" James groaned. "Can I come with you nymph?" Briar held back his irritation. Something good had finally come out of Detia's mouth, and he'd been disrupted. At that point in time, no, he did not want James to come with him. But James seemed so lost without this "Sakirra" girl. Briar couldn't just leave him on his own. The kid would probably dive off another cliff, one without water to cushion his fall! He couldn't leave James on his own.

"Sure kid," Briar agreed offering a hand to James. "But call me Briar, and I'm a dryad, not a nymph, okay?" James nodded and gripped Briar's hand. Briar hoisted James up and guided him back over to Detia.

"Detia," Briar said. "We have a new friend." Detia looked over the ten-year-old cautiously. Clearly, she didn't want to be friends.

**So there it is! Please review again! I really need to know if you guys are still reading - if you are, I love you! Also, if there are any Hunger Games fans, please check out my story Static Electricity, as I am currently only working on that story and this one. THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS! Just for reading. I'll update soon. In at the most three weeks. I'm really busy at the moment guys! Sorry! :( **


	5. Strength in Numbers

**Oh gosh I'm a terrible person! I left you guys waiting a whole month for this chapter! Hopefully this one makes up for the action the last one lacked.**

**No, I am not male, I am not an accomplished author, I am not called Rick, I am not a superhuman writing genius, and I am not the owner of PJO. Or anything related. The characters are mostly not mine. A massive thanks to Idonotget for all her help with the monsters.**

**Huge thank you to all who reviewed.**

**Review Replies:**

**De Trapped: Thanks! I'm glad you like James. These chracters were submitted in a sort of competition. I only own... Characters that haven't been introduced yet. :)**

**EatYourKimChi: I was dead, but Gaia left the Doors of Death open, so I walked back out. It just took me a couple of months to find that door. :P Hope you find this chapter better than the last! :)**

**Miss Technicality: Well we owe the rest of the story to you. You have to feel special. I built a shrine for you in my garden. The di Angelos will return right after this author's note! I get a couple of weeks off school soon, so I'll update more, and my piano exam is over with so, I'll be updating soon!**

**When It All Crashes Down: WOO! And I finally updated again! Let's see if you notice faster! ;) *dances just for the sake of it* Thanks... And sorry, but spider-wise, this chapter is probably worse.**

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Strength in Numbers<strong>

**~{[Bianca's P.O.V.]}~**

The gravel shifted beneath their feet. Bianca was wondering if the roof would cave in any time soon. There was no way the gravel could've fallen off a strong unbreakable ceiling.

Gewaily didn't seem to mind the fact that the ceiling should've been crushing them. Nico's expression was still unreadable. Teenage boys were so stupid. Why on earth had he gone to Camp Half-Blood? What could he have possibly hoped to get out of it? Why was Bianca the unfortunate girl who had to be his sister?

Bianca continued walking slightly behind her two accomplices. She really wasn't all too comfortable with Gewaily. She never really liked Gewaily, and it had nothing to do with her being a pyroead. Gewaily just seemed distant. Almost as if she was really living somewhere else, disconnected from this world.

Bianca had never been through this passage either, which didn't comfort her at all. She'd had no idea it existed. Bianca was one of those people who just didn't enjoy unfamiliar things.

The flickering blue light glowing around Gewaily didn't give Bianca any comfort. The light was so eerie. Bianca could usually stand eerie, but blue. Blue was Zeus's colour. That blue light seemed to be dangerous.

"This way," Gewaily urged, her voice a raw hiss, as if even the pyroead's throat was on fire. Her voice had a new strange edge to it though. She almost sounded excited. And servants don't get excited about much.

Nico fell into step beside Bianca. Bianca half wanted to use this oppurtunity to slap her brother in the face, but restrained herself from doing so. Nico actually appeared as if he felt ashamed of his actions, which is an extremely rare occurance for Nico.

"Bianca," Nico whispered. "I don't trust Gewaily." His voice was extremely quiet, but it still bounced off the cavern's walls a million times louder than what it was.

That sentence caught Gewaily's attention. Her head whipped around and hissed at Nico.

"Don't you?" she hissed. "You were the one who ran off to the filthy half-blood's camp this morning. You are the one who shouldn't be trusted." Gewaily's eyes were emitting orange light. This was extremely abnormal, even for a lampad. Then something Persephone had taught Bianca flew into Bianca's mind.

"Their eyes glow when their loyalty falters. Their loyalty is never secure. Gewaily will leave us one day."

Bianca stared at the lampad. Gewaily glared at Nico. Nico hesitantly crossed his legs slightly and reached for his sword. He made it rather obvious that he did not want to be kicked in his more sensitive area again.

"If you dare make a move against Nico," Bianca threatened, drawing her own Stygian Iron blade. Gewaily merely smirked.

"Aikaterine," Gewaily called.

"Don't speak!" Bianca warned pressing her blade against Gewaily's throat. She carefully scanned through the darkness, hoping that they were completely alone. She was desperately hoping that Gewaily wasn't going to hurt them. After all, Gewaily was the only one who knew where they were.

"Open the door," Gewaily whispered, her voice sounding as rough as gravel.

"Who in Zeus's name are you talking too?" Nico asked.

Then the gravel beneath their feet shifted. Bianca froze in shock, as the sound of falling rocks echoed through the cave like gunfire. Nico whipped out his blade and thrust it at Gewaily, but Gewaily fell into the gravel beneath their feet.

"Holy Poseidon," Nico muttered. The terror in his face was clearly visible. His eyes looked as if they would fall right out of his head if he opened them any more. Nico seeming that scared was a sure sign that Bianca had the right to freak out.

Bianca felt her breathing speed up. They had to get out of this cave, but she had no idea how to escape it. She had to at least try to save her brother.

The ground continued moving. The gravel was slowly sinking deeper into nothingness. The ground was falling. Not the ceiling, like Bianca had been concerned about, but the ground. The ground was slowly gaining speed in its descent.

"Nico run!" Bianca yelled. Nico looked relived to have an excuse to move. He lifted his leg and within the instant he was gone.

Bianca screamed. She stared at the spot where Nico had been standing moments earlier. What was going on? She was so confused. She could've surely changed this course of action. If she'd realised that Gewaily was going to leave them earlier, maybe she wouldn't be trapped in the whirlpool-like cave. Nico could still be standing beside her. Was Nico actually dead? How soon before Bianca joined him?

Her breathing was shifting to an uncontrollable pace. It was actually hurting to inhale. She could feel her feet sinking into the ground beneath her. Her ankles were being abused by the coarse gravel. Every inch of her ankles stung.

Bianca was frozen with fear. Surely her father being god of the dead she should've been able to withstand fear, but no, instead Bianca got so panicked that breathing hurt. She knew she was toast.

The gravel rose to Bianca's knees. If this was how she would die, it was going to be slow and painful. That was one thing Bianca didn't want.

As rocks grazed Bianca's skin, she attempted to regain control of her breathing. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the blood she could feel dripping out of her legs. She had to concentrate.

"Breathe," she whipered to herself between her uneven shallow pants. "Breathe." She focussed solely on her breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth. In. Out. In. Out.

She inhaled a final time and put a hand to the shifting earth beside her, that was slowly dragging her into the ground.

Then she roared. The roar was inhumane and hoarse, but it worked. The gravel constricting around her body fled, and left Bianca in midair. Naturally, Bianca fell, to what she expected to be her death.

Her fall was quite short. She groaned as she rolled onto her back. Now the pain wasn't only in her legs, but everywhere. Her day couldn't have been worse.

There was still an air pocket around her. She was in another cavern. She was breathing and the air seemed no different to the Underworld's. She was alive, and clearly staying that way for a while.

That thought made Bianca's mind snap back to Nico. If she survived, did he? He had to be somewhere nearby, they'd only fallen three feet apart.

"Nico," Bianca whispered. Her voice echoed. "Nico," she repeated louder. She pushed herself into a sitting position. It was pitch black. Regardless, she looked around the area. She couldn't see anyone, or hear anyone.

"Nico?" Bianca called. She awaited a response. Her hope was quickly fading. She'd clearly lost Nico. Whether he was dead or missing was another question. She just had to hope that he was still okay.

A voice pierced through the darkness. It was a beautiful voice. It was singing, a somewht mournful tune, but it was still beautiful and harmonious. It was intoxicating. Bianca could've listened to it all day.

_"Their spirits safely glide,_

_Safely homeward,_

_Safely onward,_

_Mother beckons your return..."_

The voice stopped singing. It's perfect melody finished, leaving the cave in silence. The silence gripped Bianca's core. Cold needles twisted their way up her spine. This silence was haunting. It echoed more than the melodic voice that had courses through the cavern moments earlier.

BANG!

There was a sudden burst of light that made Bianca freeze. All she caught was a glimpse of half a Heracles statue. Then a shriek followed the light.

That shriek was so high pitched it hurt. Bianca cringed as she listened to it. She was shivering. Fear's cold web had gripped her.

She hastily rose to her feet. She had to move. She didn't know where, she just didn't want to be anywhere near whatever had made that sound. She wanted to be as far away from it as possible.

She reached towards the side with her hands as she started running blindly through the cave. Her breathing was picking up too fast again. Maybe her bad breathing would kill her. Maybe she could hyperventilate to death before she met whomever had shrieked.

Bianca tripped over her own feet. She caught herself in mid-fall and stumbled back into a run. The ground suddenly dropped.

Bianca fell facefirst, but the impact wasn't hard, it was soft, but somewhat sticky. She tried to move her hands, but she couldn't. Something was gripping them, it felt as if it was pulling at her arm. Jut attempting to move it was exhausting. She tried to lift her legs. They were being pulled too.

Bianca groaned in frustration. She frantically tried to move. She was only draining herself. She panted heavily. Her chest was heaving so hard she felt like spewing.

"HERACLES!" a voice screeched. "DARE YOU DO THAT AGAIN YOU WILL-" The voice became faint. Bianca couldn't distinguish any words. She had a disturbing feeling that someone, or more likely something was coming for her.

A faint popping sound reverbrated through the cavern. Bianca froze. The "pop pop pop" was getting closer.

Sword. That's what Bianca needed. She needed her sword. She tried to bend her wrist towards her sword's hilt. It wasn't working. She shook her hips in hope that her sword would slip out of it's sheath, closer to her hand.

Bianca heard her sword slip slightly. She might have a chance. The popping kept coming closer. Bianca shifted more. Her sword's hilt jabbed her elbow. She managed to grip it between her elbows. This was not a safe way to be holding a sword.

A hiss came from Bianca's side. She flipped her sword upwards and caught the hilt in her mouth. She tried to rub her sword against whatever bonds were restricting her. Her jaw was strained intensely. It hurt just trying to turn her neck.

There was a snap and Bianca's right arm was weighed downwards. She still couldn't pull it free. She struggled to raise her arm. Slowly but surely, her arm reached her face and she took the sword from her mouth, only to have her arm weighted down even more.

A hiss came from right next to Bianca's ear. She felt the hiss travel through her ear, making it itch. Then something stabbed into Bianca's back and pain hit her from every pore.

Her sword fell out of her grip and Bianca released a cry of pure agony. The pain burned through her, spreading through her veins by the instant. She could feel blood gushing from her back, travelling through her shirt, soaking it through.

The blood fled from Bianca's head, and her mind spun. She felt dizzy. She couldn't tell which way was up or down any more.

Her mind slipped from consciousness.

**~{[Sakirra's P.O.V.]}~**

Sakirra woke up slowly. Her insides felt waterlogged. She felt so soggy she thought that her own bones moving might be enough to break through her weakened, worn flesh. All of her skin was crinkled. She was wet.

Sakirra coughed up another mouthful of water. She could only wonder how she'd managed to survive.

She lay sprawled on the ground, tired. She would've given so much for a good sleep at that moment in time. So, so much. Her eyelids kept closing unvoluntarily on her. She was so drained.

Sakirra hated feeling so soaked. Water was not her strength. She focussed on the calm breeze around her. She willed the wind to blow harder around her, almost like a giant fan. Being a daughter of Zephyr made Sakirra's life ten times easier.

Sakirra was now dry and exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. She couldn't risk it. The hellhounds were still out and about, surely trying to smell her out. And James...

Had they already killed the boy? Had they done worse? Did they take him away to be tortured? All sorts of crazy rumours had been flying around.

War didn't make life any easier. It'd turned even the demigod world upside-down. Something about war in the world made the monsters go even more savage than they usually were.

But James... He might've still been out there. Still fighting. How would he cope without Sakirra? She hadn't taught him enough! He was going to get himself killed if he wasn't already dead!

Sakirra sat up. She had to move. She had to at least try to find her best friend. She couldn't give up on James.

She climbed to her feet and started making her way along the river. If she followed the river she wouldn't get lost. James knew that much. He would follow the river.

Sakirra's shoes had fallen off when she was in the river. Her feet were bare and not used to walking on such a harsh terrain. Every rock that splintered into her feet made each step more painful. She just wanted a sleep.

What worried Sakirra more was that she was weaponless. If she was attacked out of the blue she was most likely dead.

She followed the river for two hours. Her feet were blistered and bleeding. She could't make herself walk even further. Not in her state. She was almost falling asleep standing up. She would've liked to fall asleep accidentally and not have to blame herself.

She sat down on the ground and put her feet in the water. The water stung, but hopefully helped her wounds to some degree. Sakirra just couldn't think straight she was so tired.

Sakirra lay back down on her rock. The moon was high in the sky. It was probably around eight o'clock. It was so dark. She could barrly see anything. She was so vulnerable. Anyone could've killed her there had they wanted to.

Finally Sakirra couldn't stop herself. She fell to sleep.

Her dreams were vivid.

Sakirra appeared on a boulder beside another girl her age. The girl had flowy hair that weaved through the night's air. She had a rather mousy face, but it was deeply shadowed around her eyes. She looked almost like a pretty ghost in the darkness.

The girl was staring at something in the distance. Sakirra tried to follow her gaze, but couldn't see anything except the stars on the horizon.

The Sakirra saw something. One star was glowing with a green tinge. Sakirra crinkled her brow as she focussed on this star. The star started shining brighter. It started moving, almost as if it was dancing. It was strangely beautiful.

The green star danced around the sky, but then came forwards. It didn't appear to increase in size, it remained the same, a tiny green speck of light.

It hovered in front of the girl beside Sakirra for a moment, before the girl reached out with an open palm and the star fell into it. The girl closed her hand into a fist before reopening her palm.

Instead of the single green star, there were hundreds in her hand. All piled on top of each other, shining with vibrant light.

The girl then acted very spontaneously.

She threw herself off the boulder and fell, only to get shocked by a sudden stream of lightning. Any remains of the girl were gone. The green stars that had been in the girl's palm had drifted out into the air aimlessly.

Sakirra woke up by the light of a fire. Something wasn't right. Sakirra had not lit a fire. She would've never wanted to risk drawing attention to herself.

Sakirra sat up and came face to face with the same girl from her dream. Sakirra's jaw dropped.

The ghost-like girl's teal eyes stared into Sakirra's, her expression remained unchanged.

"What do you want from me?" Sakirra asked. The girl's expression didn't change. Sakirra wondered if she'd offended her.

"Who are you?" Sakirra demanded. The girl turned to the ground before she opened her mouth.

"I am Sophia," the girl said. The girl seemed distant. She was speaking with Sakirra face-to-face, but yet, her voice seemed to speak in foreign tongues. The girl was clearly lost. The girl seemed unable to register the fact that she owned her name. Something about the way she said "Sophia" was different to the way any other person would say their name. Was there shame in it? Did the girl dislike her own name? Was she ashamed of her family who had given her that name?

"Why are you here?" Sakirra asked. The girl looked over her shoulder at the river behind her.

"You need to come to camp," the girl answered plainly.

"How did you find me?" Sakirra asked.

"Don't worry," the girl replied. "You need to sleep. You're tired. Sleep." The girl sounded so forceful, yet so empty. Sakirra would almost believe that this "Sophia" was actually a ghost. Sophia didn't offer any immediate threat, but was vague. Sakirra thought it would be best for both of them if she tried to go back to sleep again.

Sakirra couldn't sleep though. Sophia's presence was strangely haunting. Sakirra had watched this girl die in a dream minutes ago. There were a million questions Sakirra felt like she needed answered. Too much had happened in one day. Too much for Sakirra.

**~{[Sam's P.O.V.]}~**

Sam felt like the dead. He felt like his heart was being torn out of his body. The pain was so intense, Sam couldn't even manage to scream about it. He could barely breathe.

Aikaterine was singing again. Sam could make out that much. Aikaterine only sung when she'd lured another victim into her cave, or her web. That didn't bother Sam too much. Hey, monsters had to eat too. And by definition, Sam the storm spirit, was a monster.

_"Mother beckons your return..."_ Aikaterine's magical voice finished her song. She was near to killing her victim.

Sam lifted his head to watch. As much as it hurt to move, Sam knew he had to do something other than lie around and wallow in the pain consuming him.

Aikaterine was slowly moving toward her prey. Sam could just make out the teenage boy lying in the darkness, his mouth held shut by Aikaterine's web.

The boy looked utterly terrified. His foot was stuck in some webbing also. He was struggling too hard, exhausting himself. That's what Aikaterine wanted her prey to do.

The boy turned slightly in Sam's direction. His eyes were as black as coal. That was the exact same colour as a certain god of death's eyes.

The boy in the web was Hades' son. The child of the prophecy. The one who would end the crazy distirbance in nature.

This boy was not allowed to die.

Sam stumbled to his feet and limped after Aikaterine, pain burning inside him like wildfire. He used what little energy was left in him to make a charge.

Sam's form crackled with electricity. Something gave Sam a feeling that this wouldn't end well.

Sparks started flying off Sam's body. He could feel the power inside him. Now he just had to let it go.

Sam forced the bolt of lightning at Aikaterine, filling the cavern with blueish light. Aikaterine released an inhumane roar.

Sam winced as Aikaterine's roar grew louder and higher. He swore his eardrums burst.

Aikaterine didn't stop screaming. The maddenned spider was shrieking with rage. What had Sam done? She was probably going to kill the demigod faster! Sam felt so stupid.

"HERACLES!" Aikaterine's voice was far from happy. She was probably going to kill Sam. "DARE YOU DO THAT AGAIN, YOU WILL..." Aikaterine's voice trailed off.

"There's food," Aikaterine whispered. "In the web. A rare catch Heracles. Good work Heracles. You caught me some food." Sam just lay on the ground panting. He had no idea what Aikaterine was going on about. He just wanted out. Out of that cave, out of his life, out of his weak human form, out of everything.

Aikaterine wandered away, her eight feet making that popping noise as she stepped.

Sam shuddered under his pain. He was so drained from using that blast of power he could barely register his pain. He just wanted to die. Everything was burning so hard. Death wouldn't be that bad. Sam would reform. He wouldn't be dead forever.

Something brushed Sam's shoulder. He didn't respond.

"Get up," a voice whispered. Sam opened his eyes slightly an looked at the face hovering above his own. Those coal coloured eyes gazed right into his own. The kid was okay.

"Are you alive?" the kid asked in a whisper. Sam inhaled deeply. "Are you staying that way?" the boy confirmed. Sam nodded his head ever so slightly. Even that motion made pain rage inside him.

"I have some ambrosia," the boy whispered.

A hand opened Sam's mouth and placed a small cube on his tongue. Sam's pain evaporated instantly. His body tingled though. The pain was still lingering. It was just hiding, it was being covered.

Sam was partially in shock from his sudden relief, but that didn't last long. The son of Hades grabbed Sam's wrist and yanked him to his feet.

"What was that crazy spider?" the boy asked Sam in a harsh whisper.

"Aikaterine," Sam whispered back. "We should leave now, while we have the chance. Aikaterine will be back very soon." Hades' child nodded.

"Yeah, I don't like this place. Too many Heracle's heads." Sam merely nodded. There was just too much Heracles in general.

"What's your name?" Hades' kid asked him.

"Call me Sam," Sam answered. "You're Hades' son."

"Nico," the kid added.

"Nico," Sam repeated. "We should move."

Sam took a step towards his left. Although his time in Aikaterine's cave had been short, he was more than eager to leave it. He was beaming jut at the thought of escape, just at the relief of his pain, which he knew wouldn't last long.

"AGGHHHHH!" A scream bounded off the cave walls, pushing more urgency into Sam's thoughts of escape. Aikaterine was a fast eater. Whoever was screaming would be dead within ten minutes, then have the blood taken out of them within another ten. And Sam had no idea which way lead out of the cave. He needed any time he could get.

"Bianca," Nico muttered. He turned to face the direction the screams had come from.

"Nico," Sam started. "We need to run away now. Aikaterine will be back." Nico only drew the sword in his sheath.

"You go then," Nico urged. "I'm not stopping you, I don't even know you." The boy then sprinted through the cavern, towards the screams.

Sam watched him disappear from Sam's sight. He didn't actually care about Nico, but this was Hades' son, a son of the Big Three, who was going to be the one in the prophecy. He had to be. He was going to save the world. And if he was going to go up to Aikaterine and get himself killed... the prophecy would probably have to wait another sixty years.

Sam couldn't let that happen. If Sam could prevent the end of the world, he would.

Sam started running back towards Nico.

This is stupid, Sam thought. You're going to get the both of you killed.

Sam sprinted faster. The urgency of the situation was enough to make anyone sprint. He still couldn't believe he was going to pretty much sacrfice himself to Aikaterine.

Sam saw Nico and stopped. Nico was standing right on the edge of Aikaterine's bowl. The bowl that held her giant web, if you landed on that you were dinner, if you missed it, you fell into the depths of the Underworld, and then died. If Nico took another step he was a dead man.

Nico picked up a rock and pegged it at Aikaterine. Sam could see the boy shaking with rage.

"Leave," Nico breathed. "My. Sister." Sam backed behind a stalagmite. He might just wait this one out until the winner was visible, and then help. He could save his own life.

The monster turned back to it's meal. Nico pegged another rock at it. Sam almost winced in the pain Nico would soon be facing. Aikaterine was not a good choice of being to throw rocks at. Nico was just provoking the monster. He'd be more dead than his sister in a matter of seconds.

Sam was just about ready to leave. Nico stood no chance whatsoever. Sam could save himself and leave Aikaterine in pece. He could run.

"COME AND FIGHT ME CRAZY SPIDER!" Nico yelled. Sam shrunk back behind the web-coated stalagmite and looked into a mirror rimmed with faces of Heracules.

His own reflection looked shaken up.

"What do I do?" Sam whispered to his reflection. His reflection stared back at him. Right in the eyes. His dark blue-black eyes seemed to be glaring back at him, almost as if his reflection was acusing him of being selfish.

"Do something," Sam mumbled to himself. He would at least attempt to help save this "Bianca".

Sam poked his head out from behind the stalagmite and saw two of Aikaterine's thin legs stepping just in front of Nico. He'd gotten the monster's attention well enough.

Sam moved around to the opposite side of the stalagmite and watched Aikaterine step into full size in front of Nico. Nico looked a bit nervous. Even he seemed to recognise that he'd bitten off more than he could chew.

Aikaterine glared at Nico, hissing and baring her teeth. Sam hadn't noticed her teeth before. They were all extremely pointed, with two larger teeth at the front of her mouth. What made her mouth worse at this moment was that they were dripping with crimson blood.

Sam decided that when he finally escaped this cave he would be arachnaphobic.

Aikaterine glared at Nico with her four eyes threateningly.

"Lunch and dinner," Aikaterine said. "Which will I eat first?" Sam watched on as Nico swiped his sword at Aikaterine. His sword couldn't penetrate through her scales, it merely made an awful scraping sound. Nico smiled up at Aikaterine nervously.

"I just wanted to say," Nico started, "You sing really well." Aikaterine's ears turned red.

Sam chose this moment to move.

He treaded genty over the rock ground to the lip of Aikaterine's web-bowl. He got onto his knees and peered into the bowl.

The bowl was a giant bottomless pit, with Aikaterine's favourite web stretching through it. Usually one or two unlucky mortal creautes would fall into it.

There was only a single mortal tangled in the web then. A girl hanging face-down, with large puncture wounds in her back. The girl was clearly unconscious. A sword was suspended in part of the web beside her. She looked just as lifeless as the sword next to her.

This was clearly Bianca.

Sam glanced back over at Aikaterine. She was trying to skewer the son of Hades with her rather sharp feet, luckily Nico appeared to be quite handy with his blade.

Sam took a deep breath and turned back to the web. Bianca's feet had been bound by web. Aikaterine hadn't managed to finish wrapping her meal.

How was Sam supposed to get her out of the web and still manage to climb out alive? He'd set himself an impossible task. Just like his little quest to go recover Aria's locket. That wasn't working out well.

Sam's gaze landed on the sword hanging from the web. Maybe...

Sam swung his legs over the edge of the bowl and dropped. He clung to the wall to avoid falling into the web. His hands were grazed, but he wasn't stuck in a web. Only his feet were attached to the spider's giant silk. So far, so good. He leaned backwards and reached out for the sword. He pulled a muscle in his back slightly. He stretched even his fingers to try and gain a hold on the sword without falling onto the web.

Sam's hand found a grip on the sword and he pulled it from the webbing. As he removed the sword the web snapped, with a rather loud crack as well. Sam unfortunately knew that sound wouldn't go unnoticed.

He clenched his jaw as he heard Aikaterine hiss in his direction. Sam leaned back against the wall, hoping desperately that Aikaterine wouldn't noticed him.

One of her spidery legs landed on the rock wall beside Sam. He was dead. He knew that much. Bianca and Nico were probably going to die too. Maybe Sam would side with Kronos in his next life, that sounded safe.

"DON'T GO NEAR MY SISTER!" Nico's voice thundered. The shadows seemed to quiver as his words rebounded through the cave. Sam's blood chilled. Nico was scary. Only good news was that Nico yelling made Aikaterine decide that he was the bigger threat instead of Sam. Sam felt his whole body relax as Aikaterine pulled her legs back out of the bowl.

Sam looked back down at Bianca. He had to get her out quickly, mainly because he wanted to get out in one piece himself. And he knew he had no chance of making it past Aikaterine.

He crouched slightly on the web, shaking as he tried to maintain his balance. He was very uncoordinated underground. He steadied himself and slammed his sword through another part of Aikaterine's web, allowing Bianca's arm to go free.

Sam attempted to step closer, but his feet were stuck on the web. He grunted and leaned further out to free Bianca's other arm. With another loud snap, two of Bianca's limbs were free.

Bianca stirred slightly in her unconsciousness. Instinctively, Sam gave an urgent whisper of "Shut up!" before he realised he was talking to an unconscious body.

Sam then quickly sliced through the webbing holding her legs up, so that Bianca was only trapped in the web by her torso, that was also the only thing keeping her from falling to her death thousands of meters below. This would be hard to manouver around.

Sam reached out and gripped Bianca's arm. Maybe he could pull her off the web. He pulled slightly, but it was obvious that he would need a lot more strength to pull Bianca free.

The sound of metal clashing against metal flooded the cave.

"My sword!" Nico cried. He continued to try to flatter Aikaterine and get her to leave him. He wasn't very good at complimenting. The best he'd said was "You sing really good".

"You dared to try to steal my food!" Aikaterine's voice screeched. "You will be dead!" The monster then did the mature thing and squealed. Sam heard Nico wince in pain loudly. That wasn't very comforting.

Sam turned back to Bianca.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked her back. She gave no reply. Sam wasn't even hit by the sudden burst of inspiration he'd hoped for.

"Crap," he muttered to Bianca. "I'm stuck here, you're stuck here, Nico is being killed and we're both going to follow. This is why I hate the ground Liam!" He knew he was muttering pointlessly to himself, but even then he was getting angry.

Liam was the one who had pushed Sam into this foresaken cave, abandonned him, left him for dead. That was probably what Liam wanted. For Sam to be dead. That stupid satyr had claimed to be his friend.

Sparks started flying from Sam's hair, crackling quietly. He was ready to kill someone. That stupid satyr had ruined Sam's life, and if Sam wanted anything, it was revenge.

Sam's breathing became low and heated. He could feel the effects o the cube he'd eaten earlier wearing off, his body was starting to ache again, but Sam's fury was enough to stop anything. And Sam wouldn't let anything stop him from getting back at Liam.

Sam's whole form started sparking. He was literally glowing with electricity, with power. He could feel the power pushing through his veins, giving him more strength. He then morphed into a cloud, lifting his feet from the web.

Sam floated over the edge of the bowl and transformed back into a human. He was still sparking.

Aikaterine was trying to stab Nico with her legs, trying to trap him in various webs she'd created all around her cave. The only Heracles visible was a giant monument that Nico was hiding behind.

Aikaterine pushed Heracles' monument over and thrust her pointed leg at Nico. Nico was disarmed. His sword was just by Sam's feet.

Sam did what any angry Anemoi Thuellai would do. He picked up Nico's sword and released a cry of rage. The sword in Sam's hands buzzed with electricity. He threw the sword at Aikaterine.

It flew through the air with deadly accuracy. When the sword hit, a burst of light filled the cavern, with an ear-splitting BOOM.

Aikaterine shrieked like she'd never shrieked before. Her shrieks were louder than the explosion of electricity. She screamed threats in ancient tongues. Sam's head hurt beyond all measure.

Aikaterine turned to Sam, her four eyes glaring with fury. She bared her fangs at him and charged. In the few hours Sam had known her, he never would've guessed that Aikaterine could run as fast as she did then.

Sam's anger evaporated rather quickly, and he ran. He sprinted as hard as he could. Now it was fear pushing his aching body on. Every pulse in his body was throbbing. Needless to say, Sam was suddenly very scared of Aikaterine again.

"RUN SAM RUN!" Nico's voice yelled. Sam couldn't see Nico, nor did he want to falter in his sprint to try and see where the boy was at. He kept running towards the bowl.

Sam didn't even hesitate to dive straight into the bowl, right into Aikaterine's web. It had seemed like a safe option when he was running.

Sam flew through the air and landed heavily beside Bianca in the web.

"We're going to die," he told her. She was still unconscious.

"HERACLES! I WILL DRINK YOUR BLOOD AND EAT YOUR SOUL-LESS DUST!" Aikaterine threatened. Sam struggled against the web entangling him. He started cursing repeatedly.

"SAM!" Nico screamed.

The next few events were extremely abnormal, even for a storm spirit.

Nico dove into the bowl too, waving his limbs wildly in the air as he fell. As he made contact with both Sam and Bianca, but not the web, the whole scene shifted.

Darkness envelopped them.

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><p><strong>Okay so, there's another chapter! I know a lot of people stopped following this story because I stopped updating, so please if you are reading this, please review or let me know by other means that you're reading (eg. PM, alert, favourite). For those who review, could you please answer these important questions:<strong>

**Dramatic enough ending?**

**Who is your favourite character and why?**

**All the mains have been introduced, do you want any romance between any of these characters (please specify)?**

**Where can I improve? And any tips for doing so? :)**

**Do you like the idea and plot of the story so far (even if it is somewhat confusing at the moment)?**

**Are you awesome enough to review? ;)**

**Will you vote in my poll relating to this story?**

**Do you always read my Author's Notes?**

**Thanks guys! And you guys should check out a freeverse by EatYourKimChi, called Blood. I thought it was extremely interesting and awesome. Please leave her a review! ;)**

**See you guys in a week or two! I promise! I will update faster this time! XD**


	6. Trust in Time

**Hello again. Thank you so so so so much to everyone who reviewed. I wish I could give you more than just another chapter in return.**

**I've decided to only do one P.O.V. for this chapter, as I feel that it keeps my writing less-rushed, as many of you felt my last chapter was.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Trust in Time<strong>

**~{[Detia's P.O.V.]}~**

If Detia thought tagging along on Briar's self-proclaimed "quest" was a bad idea, tagging along on his "quest" with the son of Atë was the worst any idea could get.

The kid was so blunt! Not just about people, but about everything! It was almost as if he didn't understand that some people cared about what others thought of them. Detia would've loved to teach James how to respect his acquaintences, or as Briar said "friends".

Detia had been forced to camp with him and Briar. She was particially regretting stalking Briar on his journey. This was beneath her. She was a pyroead. She should've been burning down a forest or doing something else interesting! Not lying under the stars, in the dirt, without any bedding. She loathed that. And James's snoring! The kid might've had hearing problems, but he had no issue with turning into a snoring elephant while he slept!

Detia was hating her night.

Maybe she didn't have to sleep, but Detia absolutely couldn't stand James's snoring! Lying awake and uncomfortable was worse when your ears were being stabbed by noise. Detia would've prefered to listen to the gurgling of the river in the distance, and she hated everything about water.

Stars drifted through the night sky. Detia watched on as they danced. At least it was something to distract her from the torturous snoring by the river.

There was a consellation shining above her head. Detia had always been intruiged by the stars. She never failed to marvel at their sparkling beauty. She longed to be as beautiful as those stars. She yearned to shine above everyone on the earth beneath her.

_One day,_ she thought. _One day you will glow like that. Everyone will be envying you one day._

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" a voice spoke. Detia was so immersed in the magnificence of the stars that she didn't even flinch at the sudden, familiar voice.

"Yeah," Detia agreed quietly. She raised her head slightly to face her new companion and smiled. She felt as if she hadn't seen the satyr in too long.

Liam smiled back at Detia, making his eyes squint slightly. He had somhow managed to make it out to the canyon in a pin-striped suit that still appeared unaturally fresh for being so far out in the desert. His hair was slightly curly, just brushing past his ears. Then there was that dimple beneath his chin. Something about that face made Detia feel uneasy.

"What are you doing here?" Detia asked, taking her gaze back to the stars.

Liam gently brushed Detia's hair out of her face before responding, "I want your help." Liam's tone was warm and friendly, almost making it sound as if he was politely inviting Detia to dinner.

"Why would you want my help?" Detia questioned. "You do everything better than me." James was continuing to snore in the background.

"You're looking for the thing I need to find," Liam explained, dropping his voice to a soothing whisper.

"I'm not looking for anything, Briar is just trying to find the children of..."

"Hades?" Liam guessed. Detia raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you after the child of the prophecy?" she inquired.

Liam merely smiled. "I've been offered a reward," he told her.

Detia was suddenly very intruiged. If she could gain something from sleepless nights with Atë's boy and painful hikes with that male nymph, she would.

"What sort of reward?"

"Why are you suddenly so curious?" Liam teased. Detia sat up slowly.

"Rewards can be very..."

"Rewarding?" Liam suggested.

Detia giggled at his bad attempt at humour. "Yes." Liam smiled back at her, before turning to the dusty ground and drawing something in the dirt with his finger.

"I could let you get the reward," Liam offered. "Akiakios has promised that whoever finds the di Angelos will have their name written in the stars." Detia's mind was buzzing. She gazed back at the stars. They were so magnificent. She would do anything to earn a privilege so marvellous. People would know her name for eons. Anyone with a constellation was someone worth more than recognition.

Detia glanced from the stars to Liam. Something caught her eye. He was covered in red dirt and dust, just from sitting down. His suit had appeared perfectly clean when he'd arrived. Something was up.

"Do you want the reward?" Liam asked, raising an eyebrow at Detia's observing stare.

"Yes." The word flew off her tongue without her even thinking. She wanted to be a star, to be among the greatest stars, so badly, in was embedded in her subconscious.

A smirk spread over Liam's face. He looked evil in the moonlight. Detia didn't like that. He was surely up to something. Was he trying to trick Detia? Was she being treated like she was nothing again? She didn't want to fall into another snare. She'd done enough of that.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Detia asked, sitting up straighter.

"Smiling like what?" Liam asked.

"Like a pyschopath."

Liam frowned. "I was just smiling." He looked right into Detia's eyes as he said it. She felt as if she could trust him, but she knew that he was also obeying the number one rule of being a good liar. She just couldn't trust him.

"And everyone was just joking about creating a world war," Detia grumbled.

"What'd I do? I was smiling! And I'm tired!"

"Forget it," Detia insisted. "Just tell me how to get this reward."

"You just have to find the children of Hades," Liam explained, going back to drawing in the dirt. Detia looked at his face to check that he wasn't lying. He didn't seem to be, but it still didn't make sense in Detia's mind. It was too simple a task with such a great reward.

"Is that it?" Detia clarified.

"No," Liam answered softly. "You need to bring them somewhere. Bringing them back out here will be enough."

"Why couldn't I just take them right where you want them?" Detia asked, bewildered at how much obvious information Liam was hiding.

"I swore an oath," the satyr explained. "I can't tell you where to go unless you swear that same oath."

"Oaths are always broken," Detia said, her voice warm and soothing. "No one will know if you tell me."

"Detia," Liam said, grabbing her shoulder, staring her straight in the eye, right through to her soul. "I don't think you understand." He spoke with such force and truth behind his words. He was being completely serious about what he was saying.

"If I tell you, I'll die."

His last words lingered in the air, chilling Detia to the core. What made the situation even worse was, Detia knew he wasn't lying.

"You will find Hades's children," Liam told Detia, after a long moment of empty silence. He stopped drawing in the dirt and gripped Detia's hand. "For us," he added quietly.

Detia's heart almost skipped a beat. She couldn't move her eyes from Liam. Was he someone she could really trust? He'd used "us", he'd made himself and him a unit. Did he trust Detia?

Detia didn't know what to think. There had only ever been two people in her life she ever believed trusted her, and here Liam, a satyr of all creatures, was, pouring out all his faith to her, and she'd only met him a week prior.

Surely he couldn't rely on her so easily. No one ever did. She'd always acted so cold and harsh, in hope that people would keep their distance. This was different. Suprisingly, she enjoyed the nervousness fluttering in her stomach.

When Detia opened her mouth to respond, her voice became faint and shy. For some reason, she didn't want Liam thinking ill of her. She didn't want to exist in his mind as a heartless incarnation of destruction. She knew of assurety that fire could do more than consume.

"I will," Detia replied, keeping her hand by Liam's. Liam smiled pleasantly.

"Thank you," he said. "Tell me when you'll return." Detia merely nodded.

Detia's gaze didn't leave Liam's for a long minute. She could've stared at those darkened eyes, with only the dull glimmer of moonlight visible in them.

Liam removed his hand from the pyroead's and stood up.

"I have to go," he said. "I'm supposed to be heading over to Camp Half-Blood. I need to meet up with a friend." Detia's heart sunk slightly. He had to go. Part of her thought that it was excellent news that the satyr was leaving. She shouldn't have felt so connected because he said "us". He could've been lying just as much as Detia did in herself.

"Goodbye," Detia farewelled. Liam waved casually and trotted away.

It was then that Detia remembered how loudly James snored.

* * *

><p>Briar woke up at dawn. That's what all dryads did. They always woke with the sun. Briar had once told Detia why they always did, but she hadn't payed him any attention. She just cared that she wasn't alone to listen to James's snoring anymore.<p>

"Wake him up," Detia ordered, her hand resting on her hips. Briar glanced at James, but didn't move to wake him.

"He's a kid," Briar noted. "He needs to sleep."

"I'm bored," Detia whined, mocking Briar's tone. "I need to move."

"You can go move over there." Briar pointed at the rock Detia had sat on for the whole night.

"The children of Hades are probably moving too," Detia spat. "Isn't that the whole reason you left on this stupid quest?"

"I didn't ask you to follow me," Briar added.

"I-"

"You just longed to be with me," Briar interupted, "because you love me." Briar winked at Detia.

"You love me, more like," Detia retorted, narrowing her eyes into a threatening glare.

"I'll let you live under that illusion if it makes you feel any better."

"Shut up," Detia muttered.

"I win," Briar finished. Detia groanded inwardly. Briar could be a nuisance sometimes, even if he was one of her only friends.

Detia huffed and decided to walk over to the rock Briar told her to "move" on. At least there she wouldn't have to argue with Briar there. Sometimes he was tolerable, usually he was tolerable, but Detia was just angry, for no reason whatsoever.

As Detia sat on her rock, Briar decided to fix his hair. He always acted so obsessive over his hair. If he had dirt smeared all over his face, he wouldn't care, but if his hair was out of place he near had a panic attack. He was a strange guy.

"I'm awake!"

Detia snapped her neck around to see who'd spoken. James was sitting bolt upright with his eyes wide open.

"Finally," Detia moaned. "Now we're moving." She pushed herself up to her feet and walked over to Briar and James.

"I'm hungry," James whined.

"Well unless you want to eat sand, I suggest you start walking." Detia scrunched up her nose and looked down with disgust at the kid.

James only looked confused.

"What?" he asked. Detia slapped her own forehead in frustration.

"We can't eat here," Briar told James, speaking louder. "There's nothing to eat."

"So get up," Detia added in a tone thick with loathing. "Actually, you were never travelling with us. Why don't you head back to your friend Saskia?"

"Why don't you shut up?" Briar asked. "James is coming with me."

"That's why he's cool," James said.

"You are now my all-time best friend!" Briar exclaimed. "Oh, sorry, yes, sorry, Reg. You are my second all-time best friend after Reginald!" Briar was talking to his bow. Detia was embarrassed to be standing in the middle of nowhere with him.

James found Briar's comment funny instead of stupid, and decided to laugh hyterically. Detia rolled her eyes. Kids were too easy to amuse.

"We still need to walk," Detia said through gritted teeth.

"We're getting there," Briar replied, offering a hand to James. He lifted James to his feet and brushed his hair back against his neck.

"Are you obsessed with your hair or something?" Detia asked.

"No," Briar said hastily. Detia opened her mouth to comment, but Briar spoke again. "Let's move. Hades's kids probably left the Underworld by now." He gazed down the canyon, clearly observing their path.

"If we're going to be walking next to that river," Detia said, following Briar's gaze. "I'm not going."

"I would say we are," Briar responded, his stare locked on the jagged cliffaces surrounding them. "To get rid of you, but that would be lying."

"How do you propose we get through the canyon without getting wet then?" Detia inquired, knowing that in all honestly, there was no way through.

"I know a shortcut," Briar answered with a smirk.

"How convenient," Detia sighed. Briar started laughing loudly. Even James didn't think it was funny.

"Why are you laughing?" Detia asked Briar, flashing him an all-serious glare.

"It's just sort of funny that you think we're lucky to have the shortcut," Briar explained.

"I think it's funny how a shortcut has magically appeared for us."

"It hasn't. It's always been there, just-"

"Just what?"

"It's not a fun shortcut."

"What does that even mean?" Even

James was staring at Detia like she was stupid at this point in time.

"The shortcut has monsters," James said, sounding very annoyed with Detia.

"Well I'm sorry I don't know everything!" Detia huffed, throwing her hands in the air.

"You should be sorry," Briar hissed mockingly.

"Oh shut up," Detia snapped.

"Do you always say that when you can't think of anything to say?" James asked. Detia glared at James.

"I've only said "shut up" once today!"

"Twice," James corrected.

"Thrice," Briar corrected.

Detia lowered her brow threateningly. "Shut-" she stopped herself. "We should go to this "shortcut" of yours already. As you say, "Hades's kids are moving"!"

Briar glanced over at James.

"You any good at hiking?" Briar asked loudly.

"Not much," James answered. Briar smiled.

"You're going to learn to be today." Briar turned his head towards the canyon's edge. "We have a mountain to climb."

But Detia had no intrest in the mountain, nor the children of Hades, nor the prophecy.

She had a name to put in the stars.

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><p><strong>So, what did you think? Sorry it was so short. Once again, I have a couple of questions I would like everyone to answer:<strong>

**Do you think my writing is better with one, or multiple P.O.V.s?**

**What do you think of Detia and her personality?**

**Do you have any ideas on what I should use as a cover for this story? **

**Are there any areas (obvious, or not so) that I need to improve on?**

**Okay, admittedly, Detia is not one of my favourite characters to write, so I hope this chapter wasn't too bad. The next chapter will be Sakirra's, but that will not be up for at least a week.**

**See yous then! :D**


	7. When Hope Fades

**Hello again. Well, I was away a bit longer than a week, but hopefully this is a bit longer than a chapter. I should've had it up weeks ago regardless.**

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. Every review I got was really uplifting and beneficial to my writing. I apologise for the spelling errors and I will now spell-check this story electronically to avoid more errors. And this is all Saki! Yay!**

**I have a crazy idea. We're currently on 44 reviews, which means that the next milestone is 50. So, my idea is how about we reach 50 reviews before I upload the next chapter! Each reviewer will be rewarded in one way or another (for this chapter at least). You do a favour for me, I do one for you. An eye for an eye!**

**I don't own PJO yada, yada, or any character, yada, yada, toilethead.**

**OH! And I would really love some help to write this brilliant idea I've had, but I can't fit writing it in whilst I write this one. If you would like to help, PM me or check out the part under "Help Wanted" on my profile.**

**You may also like to know that this chapter has almost 10, 000 words, so I won't blame anyone for reviewing late. Hope it's long enough for even Idonotget!**

**Chapter 5: When Hope Fades**

**~{[Sakirra's P.O.V.]}~**

By dawn, Sakirra probably only got two minutes of sleep. She could've sworn that Sophia hadn't moved at all that night, which was really freaking Sakirra out. That girl was far from normal.

Sophia had assured Sakirra that their "lift" to camp would arrive for them anytime soon. This left Sakirra at a loss. They were in the middle of a desert! No roads, no tracks, no airstrip, not even enough space to fit a vehicle on! Part of her wondered if Sophia was actually a ghost driven to insanity over time.

Finally Sophia shifted from her sitting position and rose to her feet, gazing up at the sky. Sakirra wondered how Sophia's legs had managed to cope with movement whilst not snapping after so long of sitting as a statue. Nonetheless, she tracked Sophia's line of sight and saw what Sophia was watching.

After being chased by monsters for years on end, Sakirra was used to seeing the abnormal, but never, in all her life, had she seen the same magnificence in any mythological creature.

Emerging from the clouds were two winged stallions, galloping on their strong legs, pushing through the air. Their skin was a blemishless, white sheen that practically glowed in the sunlight. Their silvery manes and tails wafted in the wind behind them. Their wings were like an angel's; thick with feathers, a pure white colour, unwavering in their perfect bird-like flight pattern.

Sakirra didn't need someone to tell her what these creatures were. She'd been fascinated by their myth forever. Her heart was swelling with excitement as the stallions cantered through the sky.

Pegasi were coming her way.

"Wow..." The word slipped off her tongue without warning. It was the only word that she could utter; she was in such awe of the creatures.

Sophia glanced over at Sakirra, her thin eyebrows lowered.

"You haven't seen a pegasus before?" Sophia asked with a tone of superiority. Sakirra hated that tone. It reminded her of her past life, which she didn't want to think about in the slightest.

"No," Sakirra replied, striving to keep a friendly tone.

Sophia turned back to the pegasi without another word.

_Does she even know the meaning of social?_ Sakirra wondered.

The flying stallions neared the ground, when Sakirra noticed something peculiar. They were saddled. The most beautiful creatures in existence were saddled, controlled by humans. There were some things that just shouldn't be restrained. Humans complain about how terrible slavery is, and then they go and force some animals to do their bidding. Hypocrites. Everyone was becoming one.

The pegasi finally reached the ground, trotting towards a halt, kicking up mounds of the loose red dust into Sakirra and Sophia's faces. Sakirra blinked the dust out of her eyes and lifted her gaze back to the beautiful stallions before her.

She was awestruck. Her chest was heaving with excitement. Was she really going to sit on one of those saddles on the pegasi? Sakirra took note of every detail of the pegasi, from their immoveable stance to the veins that bulged in their necks. They were so beautiful.

Sophia walked ahead and climbed into one of the saddles effortlessly. She turned over to Sakirra with an expressionless face.

"Get on the other one," she instructed. Sakirra stepped over to the other pegasus and tried to step into its saddle. She placed her foot on the footholds and tried to swing her other leg over the pegasus's body. Then she realised that for her plan to work she would have to sit backwards on the Pegasus. Yes, Sakirra had experience riding a horse before, but it hadn't had a saddle.

Sakirra noticed Sophia rolling her eyes and glaring distastefully at Sakirra. It was then Sakirra figured out that she and Sophia would never be friends. Any pity Sakirra had possessed for the ghost girl was obliterated.

"Hurry up," Sophia called.

"I'm trying," Sakirra responded, not bothering to conceal the annoyance in her voice. She partially wanted Sophia to know that there was no trust or friendship between them.

Eventually Sakirra got both her feet in the footholds, around the right way. She shifted uncomfortably in the saddle. The leather was coarse and stiff. The edges of the saddle scratched at the bare skin on Sakirra's thighs.

_Stupid dress,_ Sakirra thought. The most awkward thing about her position was her light flower patterned dress, which wouldn't stretch over her and the pegasus. It had bundled itself up around Sakirra's waist, leaving the majority of her thighs visible, which was not only annoying, but it immodest.

"Take the reins," Sophia told Sakirra in a monotonous voice. "Shake them once. They know where we're headed." Sakirra hesitantly reached for the reins. They were made from the same worn leather that was attacking Sakirra's legs. She gripped the strip with both hands and tugged on it slightly.

The pegasus whinnied and reared back on its hind legs, making Sakirra cling to the reins for dear life, well, to stay on the horse's back.

"Whoa boy!" she shouted in surprise, tugging more heavily on the pegasus's reins. The pegasus only responded by taking a steep ascent into the sky.

Sakirra forgot about how uncomfortable her position was as they left the ground. She dug her knees into the pegasus's sides to keep herself from falling off the horse. Fear closed her eyelids tightly as her knuckles almost broke as she gripped the reins with such ferociousness.

The wind picked up Sakirra's hair and whipped it behind her, it pulled all of her body backwards, but she was holding far too firm to slip in the slightest. Her dress was trailing along behind her. The cool wind bit at her dry flesh, no doubt she would have severe windburn.

Sakirra jerked back to action and opened her eyes. The shock of the initial take-off quickly wore off. She could do this. She'd ridden a horse before, only without reins and without flying, but hey, it couldn't make too much of a difference, could it?

Laughter burst from her mouth as she realised just how easy this was going to be. Even if she fell, she was a daughter of Zephyr; the winds would cushion her landing. Why had she been worried in the first place? It wasn't as if pegasi were known for eating people.

Sakirra gazed over the vast plain before her. It was even more magnificent from above. The Grand Canyon. It was obvious how it got its name. It covered a wide expanse of land with rocky, red dust. Monumental landforms broke from the surface of the ground. It wasn't desolate. It was dotted with shrubs and the few other plants that managed to thrive. The whole form of the landscape seemed to shift with the wind as the dust swirled along the surface. Then the canyon, a giant crevasse in the very earth. The jagged edges of that canyon were beyond explanation.

Sakirra found the unique beauty of the place vastly intriguing. Her jaw hung open clumsily as her mouth curved into a smile.

Her pegasus neighed quietly as it cantered through the air, still pushing steeply into the sky. She rubbed its neck slightly not daring to remove her left hand from the reins, daughter of Zephyr or not.

Sakirra peered over at Sophia, only a couple of meters to the right of herself. Sophia still wore her emotionless mask. Sakirra found that quite off-putting. Sophia was flying! Who could possibly manage not to crack a smile as the breeze brushed against their face and played with their hair as the weight of their own body was no longer their burden to carry?

"How long will it take?" Sakirra called over to Sophia. She felt the wind rip her voice behind her.

Sophia's head tilted slightly in Sakirra's direction. "Three hours," she shouted. Her voice was slightly distorted by the wind, but Sakirra got the message.

Sophia leaned down into her pegasus's mane and glared at the sky awaiting her. Sakirra tried to see what Sophia was looking at. She pressed down against her own pegasus's mane and scanned the air ahead. When she noticed what was happening she almost fell off the pegasus.

They were approaching the clouds. Thick dark clouds. Sakirra had never dreamed of getting anywhere near the clouds, but here she was, about to fly through them. Her mind reeled in wonder. What if there was a storm raging in the clouds? What if she drowned in clouds? How many people had done this before? Sophia was going without hesitation, which had to mean it was perfectly safe, right?

Sakirra started anxiously looking around. Sophia wouldn't have brought Sakirra to die. She couldn't have, no matter how vague or ghostly she was. No, it wasn't the end. Sakirra could cope in the clouds. People had to have done it before. She would know if it was deadly. Her thoughts were failing to calm her down. She didn't trust Sophia. She feared she was going to her death.

Sakirra inhaled deeply and held her breath. She closed her eyes tightly and buried her head in her pegasus's mane. Chills were spreading through her body, and not just because of her excessive altitude.

The moment of truth came. Sakirra knew the clouds would be upon her in an instant.

Wet droplets formed on Sakirra's face. It was like a rainstorm. The air was freezing. She could feel drops forming all over her like dew on the morning's grass.

Sakirra dared to open her eyes. She was immersed in a misty vapour, shielding her own hands from her view. The wispy threads of suspended water twisted around everything. She could barely make out Sophia's silhouette beside her. Sunbeams dug through the surface of the thick clouds in various places, giving small illumination to her path. The sunlight was almost like a blade tearing through the cloud. The rays of sunlight almost looked solid enough to touch.

Sakirra reached out to test this theory, but as light is, her hand slipped right through the golden glow. She pulled her hand back to the reins of the pegasus gawking at her surroundings in awe.

It was a magical sight. Surreal, awesome, wonderful.

The only word that came off Sakirra's tongue was, "_Beautiful_."

The moisture in the clouds constantly splashed against her face. It was cold but refreshing. The same smell that lingers in the dampness after rain hung in the air at that time. Sakirra could've fallen asleep in those clouds. She didn't want the magic to end though.

Time drifted by and the clouds started to thin out. Sakirra's pegasus (which she had named "Curtis" over her three hours of air-travel) was beginning to tire, the steady beating of his wings becoming uneven. She could feel his torso heaving heavily. She rubbed his neck soothingly.

"Only a few more minutes," she reassured Curtis gently. "You'll be home soon." Curtis released an irritated snort. Sakirra smiled at the fact that Curtis had actually seemed to register her words.

Sophia came into view beside Sakirra as the clouds thinned out further. The two girls and their pegasi were soaked with water. Sophia shook her reins in a certain fashion, somehow encouraging her pegasus to swoop downwards. Curtis followed the other's lead.

At least that meant that they were near the end of their flight. Just as well too, Sakirra's legs were exceedingly achy and her pelvis felt like it was going to split clean in two. She held nothing against Curtis, he was just uncomfortable.

Sakirra gazed over towards the ground. All she could distinguish was green. Millions of brilliant shades of green. Green like emeralds, green like grass, green like green. The only break in the green was the deep blue sea encompassing the green. Sakirra had no idea how they had managed to escape the canyon's terrain so quickly.

Curtis neighed happily and sped up in his descent. Sakirra frowned slightly. This was Camp Half-Blood. She'd heard stories about this place. Some were good, others were bad. From what she'd heard, it was a place where they brainwashed demigods into becoming slaves to the Olympians. Apparently they only honoured the Olympians too. There was no place for a daughter of Zephyr amongst them. Sakirra wouldn't be welcomed warmly.

Getting off at Camp also meant that Sakirra would have to speak to Sophia again, and that was one thing Sakirra did not want to do. Sophia was so distant. She could barely be classified as human. She also reminded Sakirra of someone she never wanted to see again.

The green drew closer and became the tops of trees and open fields of grass dotted with people and various objects. There was no doubt they were landing.

The ground drew closer faster, the wind around Sakirra picked her up, and Curtis started neighing excitedly. She was angled so far downwards, she was almost freefalling again.

Curtis abruptly pulled out of his descent into only a slight tilt towards the ground. Sakirra nearly fell off the pegasus.

"Whoa!" Sakirra yelled.

As usual, Curtis didn't respond.

"Sophia's back!" a voice below called.

Sakirra scanned the ground to find the source of the voice, but there was a crowd of ten gathered beneath her.

Curtis whinnied loudly and finally, his feet made contact with solid ground again. He reared back on his hind legs and Sakirra fell off his back landing in the grassy ground. Unfortunately, the grassy ground was wet and with a loud squelch, Sakirra's right side was covered in mud.

_Good job Sakirra,_ Sakirra thought. _Brilliant first impression!_

She pushed herself up and out of the slush. She untangled her spring dress and tried to force some of the mud out of it. She turned a hesitant eye toward the campers that had been beneath them.

Sakirra felt overdressed. There she stood, in a casual day dress, maybe it was worn and tattered, but the other female campers wore a much different style of clothing. All of the girls around her were wearing pants. Pants. Those were made for boys! Sakirra usually disliked girls who wore pants. They always seemed to think that they were more masculine. Sakirra couldn't stand it.

But then, above their pants, all the girls wore an orange shirt that only covered their shoulders. All of the orange shirts had bold black letters on the front, reading "_CAMP HALF-BLOOD_."

None of the girls were wearing anything even slightly dressy.

The girls were all around Sakirra's age, sixteen (one looked twelve, however), while the only two boys in the vicinity appeared eleven and seven.

The majority of the campers tried to smile comfortingly at Sakirra; meanwhile, three of the girls were snickering. Sakirra scowled at those girls.

"You're the new camper?" a voice to Sakirra's left asked.

Sakirra was taken aback by the sudden friendly gesture. "Yeah," she answered quietly, turning to the girl beside her.

"What's your name?" the camper asked.

"Sakirra."

"I'm Felicity," the camper introduced, sticking her hand out towards Sakirra's. Sakirra grasped Felicity's hand and shook it. The first thing Sakirra noticed was Felicity's hands were excessively grimy, from dirt, sweat, and some thick liquid. Sakirra strove to keep the smile on her face and to not retch at the vileness of Felicity's palms.

Sakirra was almost glad to see Sophia land. Felicity released Sakirra's hand and walked over to greet Sophia. Personally, Sakirra was glad to have Felicity gone.

One of the younger male campers approached Sakirra. He smiled shyly at Sakirra, revealing two missing front teeth and the two dimples dented in his babyish cheeks. He had gorgeous grey-blue eyes and a tangled mop of thick blonde hair on his head.

"You have a cool name," he said. "I'm Denis." He looked cautiously at Sakirra's now grime-coated hand and hesitantly held out his hand. Sakirra attempted to quickly wipe some of the grit off on her dress, but just as quickly gave Denis's hand a short firm squeeze.

"I'm a son of Athena," he told Sakirra. "Licity's a daughter of Hephaestus so her hands are gross." His voice and plain bluntness of character reminded Sakirra all too much of James. She had a strange feeling that her and young Denis would become great friends.

"I'm a daughter of Zephyr," Sakirra introduced.

Denis's face lit up in awe. "He's the wind god!" he exclaimed. "Can you make tornadoes?" His eyes were so wide and his mouth was open in the widest smile anyone could imagine.

Sakirra chuckled slightly at his amazement. "I haven't tried actually," she responded.

"You should! Can you fly?"

Again Sakirra had to laugh at his outrageous expectations. "Not really."

"What do ya' mean?"

"Not properly... I can't fly."

Denis's face turned into a frown.

"You don't have a cabin," he said. "You should have a cabin, Zephyr is cool."

Sakirra smiled more and refrained from hugging the kid. He was all too adorable to handle.

Denis grabbed Sakirra's hand and pulled her to her right.

"You need to meet Chiron," Denis said. He dragged Sakirra further towards the right. Sakirra turned in her new direction and continued to scan the camp.

A giant, blue, barn house overshadowed them. It was surrounded by blooming strawberry fields, bursting with the sweet aromas of the fruit. A large paved courtyard lay just beyond this blue house, decorated with a series of large wooden benches, vastly varying in size. A fire-pit stood in the centre of the courtyard, mounds of ashes, still smouldering within it. The scent of ashen powder and smoke was only masked by the strawberries.

Sakirra had never liked strawberries, but she disliked smoke more, so she had to thank the fruit.

Denis released Sakirra's hand and ran ahead towards the big, blue house. He pointed at the doors with an ear to ear smile.

"Chiron's in there!" he exclaimed. "Then you can go to your cabin! And then you can visit me!"

Sakirra laughed again at his disregard for anything of importance. "I'll be sure to visit you," she told him.

"Are you sure you can't fly?" Denis asked again.

"Yes," Sakirra answered ruffling his hair. "Now, where do I meet this "Chiron" person?"

"Centaur," Denis corrected his voice a deadly serious tone. "He's in the Big House."

Sakirra assumed that the "Big House" was the giant barn house in front of them.

"So, where do I go inside the house?" Sakirra asked.

Denis grabbed Sakirra's hand again and started pulling her forward. "I'll show you!" he insisted, bouncing with excitement.

Denis guided Sakirra up to the house and then up a small set of stairs that led to the creaky front porch. A moody-looking man with a wispy white beard and grape purple eyes glared at Sakirra as she passed. The man glared at Sakirra and muttered something about "disrespectful campers, no care for their director".

Denis skipped up the final step and knocked on the green door in the wall. Just as quickly as Denis had knocked, the door opened.

Admittedly, Sakirra jumped as the door opened, even though a door opening was a perfectly normal sight. The sight beyond normal was the being that opened the door. Without a trace of uncertainty, the creature was a centaur. He had the torso of a man, clothed in a thick, woollen jacket, and the legs and abdomen of a white, grey-speckled stallion. Where the neck of the horse should have sprouted, the man's torso began. The centaur's face was one you would expect to see on any kind elderly man. His eyes seemed to twinkle with his many memories, his chin cloaked by a neat grey beard, his mouth stretched into a warm, loving smile.

Sakirra was ashamed to have gasped in shock when she saw the magnificent creature emerge. Denis smiled at the centaur, and even embraced him. Sakirra wondered if she was required to do the same, but held back, figuring that it would be better to wait and have the centaur invite her into the hug, than hugging a complete stranger for no reason.

Much to her relief, she was never asked to hug the centaur. She didn't like the smell of old people, sometimes she just didn't like old people in general.

"Chiron!" Denis said to the centaur. "This is Sakirra! She's a daughter of Zephyr, but she can't fly!"

"That's nice Denis," the centaur, who Sakirra decided was Chiron, said. "Is she the one Sophia brought back?"

"Yeah," Denis answered nodding vigorously.

Chiron turned his gaze to Sakirra and extended a hand.

"Well hello Sakirra," he greeted. "I am Chiron, the centaur." He shook Sakirra's hand gently. "I am also the camp's activities director. I'm assuming you've been claimed, am I correct?"

Sakirra had no real idea of what "claimed" meant, but figured that Chiron was one of those people who were just never wrong, so she nodded and gave a whisper of agreement. She didn't quite know how she should act in his presence.

"Good, good," Chiron responded. "Has Sakirra met Mr Dionysus yet?" Chiron was speaking to Denis now.

Denis simply shook his head. "I think you should just tell Mr Dionysus that Sakirra's here, or he might make her wind up like the last camper."

Chiron scratched his chin, his fingers causing his whole beard to move.

"Very well then," he concluded. "Why don't you introduce her to Jacob?"

Denis was absolutely ecstatic at this suggestion. He practically leaped out of his skin, then out of the building, almost yanked Sakirra's arm off as he once again, grabbed her hand and dragged her after him. He ran the whole way to their destination, passing only a few other campers.

There was one thing that stuck out about all the other campers to Sakirra. Most were female, there were few boys, and for the few that did exist in the camp, there were none over thirteen. It seemed rather abnormal.

Denis eventually stopped pulling Sakirra along when they reached a U formation of buildings, or more like cabins. There were twelve cabins in total. As Sakirra looked around at the different cabins, from the gardens blooming in front of one cabin, to the grapevines climbing over another, from the barbed wire encircling one, to the bright glow of the cabin beside it, she managed to conclude that there was one for each Olympian.

Was she going to have to camp on the ground or something? Brilliant. Maybe she'd get a room in the Big House, but that prospect seemed highly unlikely. Was it possible that she would be adopted into one of the Olympian cabins? Or were all the cabins just memorials to the gods?

Denis continued walking ahead of Sakirra, towards one of the cabins on the furthest end on the left side. This cabin was just a plain white coat, almost as if this cabin was the least important. The cabin only had a large silver flag, decorated with one of those staffs with the snakes curling around it in the centre, hanging from the roof.

"Where are you going?" Sakirra called after Denis as he rushed into the cabin.

Denis jerked his index finger at the cabin. "Jacob's in there! Chiron said for you to meet him!" Every sentence that fluttered off Denis's tongue deserved an exclamation mark at the end of it. He was bursting with an incredible energy, energy that was pointless but persistent. Sakirra thought the boy was utterly adorable.

As Sakirra cautiously stepped through the cabin door, Denis was yelling with delight at someone.

"There's a new camper!" Denis was shouting. "She's a daughter of Zephyr, but she can't fly, but she's really cool! And she fell in the mud when she got off her pegasus! It was funny!"

Sakirra had to confess that she found Denis's words all very flattering and humiliating. She'd clearly made a good first impression on at least one person, but had only managed to get him to tell the mistakes she made to the world with admiration.

"Ah, well, she sounds it," a voice up the end of the cabin replied. The thing that struck Sakirra most about this voice was its masculinity. It was deep, yet friendly, and clearly belonged to a teenage boy, and Sakirra hadn't thought any of those things existed in camp.

"Sakirra!" Denis called. "Come meet Jacob!" His tone was very forceful, implying that there would even be punishment if Sakirra didn't obey.

Sakirra headed over to the corner Denis was standing in. She had to pick her way through the tons of thinning mattresses and blankets used to create impromptu beds.

_Wow,_ Sakirra thought, _Hermes has a lot of kids._ She tripped around ten times as she made her way over, luckily, only meeting the ground on two of those occasions.

The voice was laughing at Sakirra as she approached. She slipped and fell a final time as she reached the corner.

She commenced climbing up by herself, ready to sledge the boy who was laughing in the face. She didn't have to.

A hand was lowered to her own. The hand was a bit scary in itself. Its fingers were cracked and short, almost like an infant's dwarven hands. Unlike an infant's its skin was very dry and rough. The hand was offering to help Sakirra up.

Sakirra followed the wrist connected to the hand and travelled up the arm with her gaze. Her eyes finally landed on the handsome face of a boy who was actually around Sakirra's own age. His blue-green eyes stared into hers with utter awe. His hair was a blonde, windswept mop atop his head. His jaw stood out from the remainder of his face, crowned with a chin clef. His smile was one that could melt the heart of any young woman. That basically describes what it did to Sakirra. As a matter of fact, it felt more like her heart was going to gradually quicken until it exploded.

Sakirra immediately raised her hand from the ground and accepted the boy's help. She was hoisted off her feet and just as quickly planted gently back on her feet.

Then she saw something she might've preferred to have never seen in her life. As she looked at the boy's face, she noticed his right shoulder appeared a bit flat compared to the other one. Her gaze shifted slightly to figure out what was wrong with his arm. She held back a gag when she saw it, or more so, didn't see it.

His whole right arm was missing, Sakirra actually shivered with disgust and fear. Sights like that were not made for her eyes. She instantly looked back up at his face.

"Hey," he said. "I guess you're Sakirra."

"That I am," Sakirra replied, concealing the nausea in her voice.

"She can't fly!" Denis repeated.

Both the boy and Sakirra ignored him.

"Who might you be?" Sakirra asked.

"I'm Jacob, Jacob Beck." He smiled at her again. Her insides melted. She felt so giddy in the presence of that smile, at least until she remembered the arm he owned.

"So," Jacob said. "You had to spend a night with Sophia, I apologise for the pain you would've experienced. Sophia's a strange girl."

"It wasn't too bad," Sakirra lied. She heard a creaking sound from behind her and whipped her head around, only to notice that it was the cabin being well, a cabin. Regardless, she earned another look at all the "bed"s in the cabin. The question reignited in her mind again.

"Are these all for your siblings?" she asked.

Jacob let out a long, hearty laugh. "I think I'd rather die than have all those people as siblings!" He caught his breath and continued, "No, no. They're all the children of minor gods. I only have about three siblings in the camp, another two in the war, another three out..." His voice trailed off. By the expression on his face it was plain to see that he was reminiscing about a tragic event in his past.

Jacob snapped back to life and said rather loudly, "So you'll be stuck in this cabin with the rest of us for the next couple of months! Then you can go back to your home for the school year and-"

"I don't go to school," Sakirra blurted. "I don't have a home either." She could feel the anger swelling inside her heart again. Jacob's smile's time-bomb affect had subsided.

Jacob was clearly very unsure of how to react. His eyes shifted awkwardly around in their sockets, but Sakirra was still tracing their every move.

"Why is the camp so empty?" Sakirra inquired. She could see Jacob's relief flood onto his face as she changed the topic, but immediately, his bright demeanour faded.

"Camp used to have way more people," he explained. "But since the war all the boys from fourteen are trying to get in to fight. Everyone wants this war over. The Japanese, the German, anyone else fighting should just stop. They're ruining the world. And then because the war is such a distraction, the gods have been too busy to even consider us demigods, even the Olympians. No one's been formally claimed in the past ten years, none that we know of anyway. It really sucks being stuck at an empty camp."

There was such misery in his tone. His whole countenance appeared grimmer. Sakirra couldn't help but notice how much agony he seemed to speak from. There was something else in his voice too. Was it desire? The way he talked about the war, the spark of anger that flitted past his eye. Did he want to be a part of it? Is that what he wanted? To kill people?

Irrespective of the cruelty of such yearnings, Sakirra could understand his motives.

"Why haven't you gone to fight?" As she asked the question she knew the answer. Her stomach heaved at the thought.

Jacob sighed and pointed to his right shoulder, the one without an arm attached to it.

"Medical reasons," he said. "It's a birth defect. I don't even know what caused it. My other arm probably would've been more use severed off. It's useless and ugly. I can't fight with either of my arms. I hate it."

Did he expect Sakirra to think that he loved missing an arm? She couldn't imagine how he coped without one. She would've lost all patience by that time. She probably would've been driven to madness.

Nevertheless, Jacob didn't seem insane in any way.

"That's..." Sakirra's voice trailed off as she searched for an appropriate word. "Not very good."

"So I've noticed," Jacob said. He heaved a sigh and spoke up again. "If you're going to be staying here you'll need some stuff. Hey Denis."

"Mm?" Denis mumbled turning his wide eyes to Jacob.

"You can go back to your class now," Jacob told him.

Denis frowned heavily, pouting slightly. "But Francine is mean."

"You need to go to swordplay," Jacob insisted.

"I don't want to," Denis growled.

"I'll give you a drachma!"

The anger evaporated from Denis's face. "Ok," he chirped. Denis spun on his heel and skipped through the maze of bedding and out of the cluttered cabin.

Jacob swivelled back around to face Sakirra.

"Have you been shown around camp?" he asked.

After slight contemplation Sakirra answered, "Not directly."

Jacob smiled and offered her his deformed left arm. The second time seeing it was no better than the first. It still made Sakirra's skin crawl and itch.

"I'll give you a tour," Jacob offered.

Sakirra hesitated for a moment, but finally accepted his arm and climbed back through the cabin.

They dedicated the afternoon to exploring the camp and gathering various things for Sakirra.

Despite having only one minorly deformed arm, Jacob proved to be an excellent thief. He'd stolen her a couple of necessities from the camp store, the caretaker had been so fixed upon watching his arm-less shoulder that he completely missed the moment when Jacob's left arm slipped a shirt back to Sakirra.

Camp Half-Blood was a truly magnificent place. They had arenas for gladiator-like battles (only not to the death), a climbing wall that was at least twenty times Sakirra's height (Jacob had told her that someone was trying modify it to spurt lava for "encouragement"), a basic dining pavilion, a fully working bathroom block (and it had been a long time since Sakirra had seen one of those), a storeroom with mountain upon mountain of training dummies, a giant bunker that was opened by fire (which neither of the two had), and that wasn't even a half of it!

Sakirra had only really met five people, Jacob, Denis, Felicity, Sophia and Vanessa. One out of that five had earned Sakirra's utter resentment, another was one of the most disgusting creatures alive, another was only nine, one was missing an arm, and the other probably had no idea how to use "to" in a sentence. Sakirra had met up with the biggest bunch of misfits.

Jacob had assured Sakirra that she'd get to know a couple of other people at dinner, but Sakirra had found it extremely hard to make conversation when she was crammed between one rather large girl and Jacob, who was sandwiched between Sakirra and Vanessa. Everyone, bar the people on the ends of the benches, was squashed onto the Hermes cabin table. There was barely enough room to reach out and pick up their food. It had been near impossible to return to her seat after Sakirra had gotten up to offer a burnt offering to the gods.

As she finished what was on her plate, Sakirra turned to the girl beside her.

_Better late than never,_ she thought.

"So," Sakirra started. "How are your lungs holding up?" The girl beside Sakirra only raised an eyebrow and turned back to her plate and burying her head in her spaghetti and drinking it.

_That didn't go so well._

The night drifted on. Apparently the camp's director was the god of wine, Dionysus. Sakirra didn't think it was wise for the god of alcoholic drinks to be instructing teenagers, but Jacob gave his personal guarantee that Dionysus didn't want to teach anyone anything. Dionysus announced that there was no change in the usual schedule and that a new camper "Saskia" had arrived at camp. Chiron stood up after Dionysus and called for the Apollo cabin to organise a bonfire. Even before the Apollo cabin had exited the facility, campers from every table had started mulling away. Sakirra could actually breathe properly again.

Jacob got up from the table and Sakirra followed. She'd basically acted as his shadow that day, only she had two arms. He waited for Sakirra to step back in line with him before he started walking again.

"I'll take you to the bonfire," Jacob said. "Then I have to go to the counsellor meeting so you'll have to stick with Vanessa."

Sakirra wasn't really sure how she wanted to react. She was happy for the opportunity to be forced out of her comfort zone and forced to talk to actual people, but she also dreaded that exact same motion.

"Okay," Sakirra responded. "It'll be by the giant fireplace, right?"

Jacob nodded. "And hopefully the Demeter kids made some refreshments. They probably haven't, but when they do make refreshments it's like heaven on a plate."

Sakirra only smiled at his pointless ranting.

Soon enough Sakirra was seated on a thick, splintering bench beside only Vanessa and a girl from the Aphrodite cabin. The benches were arranged in a hexagonal shape encompassing a giant fire pit, which had yet to be ignited. Campers were sitting in obvious friendship groups. Some campers were fussing over arranging wood in the fire pit, whilst a couple of others were tuning guitars.

The girl beside her was busy boasting about some battle she'd had with a child of Hades the day prior.

"He's not as much as I expected him to be," the girl was saying.

"You pictured him as a dark angel," another girl added.

"That image was made in Anastasia's imagination," the first girl retorted. The small group of girls surrounding them all started laughing. "I expected him to be at least five feet tall!"

One of the girls's caught Sakirra watching them; the girl with silky blonde hair and a very angular face. Sakirra flinched internally as their eyes made contact. Not many of the girls at camp had proved to be very friendly; Sakirra feared that this girl would be the same. The girl did look as if she would be that sort of person. She was very pretty, the sort of girl Sakirra knew she'd immediately envy.

Instead of criticizing Sakirra, the girl smiled at her. "You're the new girl," she noted. "Sakirra isn't it?"

"Yeah," Sakirra said. "Forgive me, but I have no idea what your name is."

"I'm Adrianna," the girl said. "I'm a daughter of Aphrodite." She gestured to the girl beside Sakirra. "This is my sister, Jyn."

"Jyn" didn't look near as nice as Adrianna. She still possessed unhealthy beauty, but of a much darker quality. Her eyes were icy and rimmed with deep shadows. He black hair fell into her face, which exaggerated shadows and made her appear rather frightening.

"I'm capable of introducing myself," Jyn growled. Jyn didn't even look at Sakirra as she went on to introduce herself. "I'm Jyn Maurez and I hate annoying people, so you'd better watch out." Her voice was so sinister. Sakirra disliked Jyn.

"Who's your parent?" Adrianna asked, her face still beaming.

"Zephyr," Sakirra said.

Adrianna raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

Jyn's head rotated to face away from Sakirra. "The west wind god. Also known as a purposeless minor god who doesn't deserve the honour he has."

That comment was enough to make Sakirra's anger explode. They didn't respect her father. Regardless of his position, Zephyr could've killed them, and then killed them again in the Underworld any day. Sakirra's could feel her face flushing. She was growing hot. Her fingers clenched into fists as tension rose in her body.

"Sorry Sakirra, but your father is a loser," Jyn continued. Sakirra's head was throbbing now. She would've preferred it if Jyn had have punched her square in the face. You did not insult someone Sakirra cared about.

The breeze picked up. It was a warm breeze - it was from the west. Sakirra's blood was churning. She was itching to force Jyn to take back what she'd said.

Sakirra glared at the back of Jyn's head and focussed on the currents of the air. She could see them when she tried. With anger energising her, Sakirra moulded the different breezes together. The winds in every direction started howling violently.

Sakirra watched on as her work completed itself. The funnel swirled into action just over Jyn's head.

The air burst into a small tornado. It tugged at everyone, but only Jyn was caught in it. Wind whipped at everyone. Dust flew through the air as Jyn commenced shrieking in fear.

Jyn was purely screaming. She didn't like the pain, but it was clear that she didn't regret her words. Sakirra couldn't force Jyn to feel any form of guilt, but she could still punish Jyn.

Rage brought Sakirra to her feet. She scrunched up her face as she exerted her energies into that funnel surrounding Jyn.

Jyn's screams still echoed through the night air, whilst Sakirra was manipulating that same air. Sakirra made Jyn rise higher and higher into the air.

Jyn was hovering over the ashes of the fire pit, still squealing. Sakirra didn't enjoy watching her in pain, but terrible people deserved horrible things. Jyn was, in Sakirra's mind, a terrible person. Sakirra allowed the wind to freely swipe at Jyn's body. Within seconds the girl was careening in circles, dizzying just to watch.

Sakirra could feel that satisfaction fill her core. A slight smirk grew on her face as she watched Jyn scream.

_Faster._ The word echoed through Sakirra's mind.

Jyn spun faster, no longer screaming, the air was moving too fast to inhale. That thought made Sakirra's smirk grow wider.

"SAKIRRA!"

The sound of her own name being shouted with such ferociousness caused Sakirra to lose all concentration and all the winds died down instantly. Jyn also tumbled into the ash, moaning and panting. Adrianna ran down to Jyn along with a couple of the girls they'd been sitting with.

All the campers gaped at Sakirra. Sakirra herself was even at awe with the power she'd just used.

"SAKIRRA!" It was Jacob's voice.

A burning migraine throbbed through Sakirra's head. She winced and stumbled back down onto her posterior.

"She can make tornadoes too!" That was Denis's voice. A piercing ringing burned through Sakirra's mind. It blurred every other noise. Her hands and feet felt numb. Her knees felt ready to snap. Her shoulders were ready to slip from their sockets.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Jacob's voice was barely audible over the ringing in Sakirra's ears.

_Maybe a little... When I'm angry..._

Those were the words she wanted to speak, but her mouth wouldn't open.

Vanessa finally turned to Sakirra.

"Are you feeling faint?" she asked.

Sakirra would've slapped her forehead if she wasn't so drained. Her exhaustion was like a vacuum. Even when all her energy was gone, it still seemed to be trying to pull her down more.

Jacob's face crawled into Sakirra's vision.

"What in Zeus's name were you doing?" he asked her. His handsome face was distorted with shock. Maybe Sakirra's actions had gotten out of hand. She supposed that maybe her temper might've flared too much when people spoke ill of her friends and loved ones.

"That girl's going on a vital quest," Jacob told Sakirra. "She could save or destroy the world with this quest. Do you understand the importance of this?"

Sakirra just gazed dizzy-eyed at the stars. Jacob's words only managed to ruffle her hair slightly.

"Maybe you've been treated badly in the past, but that doesn't mean everyone else deserves it." Jacob looked so disappointed; it almost hurt to think that Sakirra had caused him that grief after only one day of knowing her.

If her first-impression hadn't been very good, her second impression had been atrocious.

Even in her broken state, Sakirra could feel guilt, even disappointed with herself. She would've said "I'm sorry" if it was possible. She would've restarted her day if it had been possible.

There was no doubt she would be an outcast again. An outcast like her father had made her. An outcast like her parents had made her. An outcast like she had been at the orphanage. An outcast like that menace of an adoptive-mother had made her. An outcast like the people on the streets had made her.

Only James hadn't pushed her aside. If only he was safe. If only she knew he was safe. If only he was beside her. If only he'd been able to come to camp and meet Denis. If only she could hear his pig-like snorts as he slept. Where was James when she needed him?

Sakirra's eyes stung with tears. She didn't fight them back, she couldn't. She desperately wanted to keep any weakness from showing, but it was impossible. She was vulnerable. Tornadoes couldn't save her from everything.

A tear slipped from her cheek, down to the ground below.

Sakirra fell backwards off her seat. She wished she could've flourished on irrational actions just as the ones she'd performed on Jyn, like James did. What she would've given for that confidence...

"Sakirra?" Jacob's voice whispered from beside her. "Are you okay?" His voice had a hint of concern in it now. "Diana," he called. "Come here."

Sakirra heard quieter speaking, but couldn't distinguish any voices or words. It was exquisitely aggravating.

Something warm trickled down Sakirra's throat. It warmed her from head to toe, making her feel tingly, partially giddy too. The liquid flowing through her seemed to rejuvenate her. She could feel as its warmth was pulsed through her body.

"Sakirra," a voice spoke gently.

The ringing in Sakirra's ears slowly subsided. She didn't feel light-headed, weak or dizzy anymore. Something - someone had done something.

Sakirra sat up slowly and blinked her eyes. She first noticed a girl sitting beside her, frowning slightly.

"Can you hear me?" the girl asked.

Sakirra gave a curt nod. "Yes Ma'am." She risked a quick glance over the area. The bonfire was still extinguished. Jyn was surrounded by a crowd of girls, every other set of eyes were fixed on Sakirra. The curses flying through Sakirra's mind were innumerable.

"What did you do to Jyn?" Jacob questioned. His whole demeanour had transformed from his usual one. He seemed angry, cold, and even protective.

Sakirra didn't need to explain. Denis was shouting everything that had happened over and over again, repeating the word "tornado" a few too many times.

Jacob turned from Sakirra and walked over to the crowd of girls around Jyn.

Beside Sakirra, Vanessa acted oblivious to the whole situation.

"I've never had a bonfire night like this," she said. Sakirra merely nodded, gazing after a friend she thought she would've kept for longer.

"Campers!" a powerful voice thundered. Chiron had come into the area. "There is a new quest!" The whole camp seemed to inhale at this word. Sakirra had no idea what about a "quest" inspired such tension.

Chiron continued, completely ignoring Sakirra's thoughts (which he couldn't read, but Sakirra still would've appreciated an explanation). "Anastasia Moore, daughter of Aphrodite, has been assigned this task. The quest is, of course, to locate the children of Hades who made an appearance at camp yesterday. Anastasia, the prophecy."

A stunning girl stepped in front of Chiron. She scanned the area with almond eyes, her mahogany hair wafting gently through the slight breeze. She stood with exceptional posture and smiled at everyone sweetly. She had to be a dancer.

"The Oracle spoke to me, through Jessica. The prophecy was, quite surprising, but it was... It was- The Oracle said to me:

_'A half-blood of the eldest gods-'_" After that line, a collective gasp silenced the campers. There was something significant about that line that Sakirra was missing.

The girl continued. "_'Shall reach sixteen against all odds._

_And see the world in endless sleep,_

_The hero's souls the cursed blade reap._

_A single choice shall end his days,_

_Olympus to preserve or raze.'_"

No one uttered a word. The girl even looked impressed with herself.

"The Great Prophecy," someone murmured.

The girl smiled again and looked out over the crowd. "I've chosen my two companions for this quest." The whole camp stared at her. "Adrianna, get over here. Jyn, you too."

"You can't pick two of your sisters!" another girl yelled, outraged. A couple of campers made shouts of protest also.

Sakirra looked over at Jyn. The girl on the ground. Why had she been chosen for a quest? Jyn actually managed to walk over to the brunette girl at the centre of everyone's attention. Adrianna joined her.

Campers started shouting and conversing loudly. Sakirra was left in confusion. Her mind was buzzing trying to piece everything together.

Great Prophecy. Children of Hades. Saving the world. What made it all so special?

Maybe living on the streets for so long had depleted Sakirra's knowledge on the goings on of the world. That didn't lessen her intense curiosity though. She wanted to know everything about this quest.

Chiron cleared his throat loudly. Campers silenced as if it had been scheduled.

"These three girls will head out on their quest at midnight," Chiron said, referring to the three girls of who had been picked out of the group. "Whoever wishes to bid farewell to these girls should do so now. The bonfire will be postponed until tomorrow night, due to reasons the majority of you would not understand. Goodnight campers." The campers started saying various "goodnight"s of their own (some Chiron would not have been flattered to hear).

Chiron waved briefly to the camp before turning around. As he spun, his eyes fixed on Sakirra's. He possessed that stern glare that immediately made Sakirra feel vulnerable, like he could see straight through her, into her thoughts, into her past.

Chiron paused for a minute and briefly gestured for Sakirra to follow him. She raised her eyebrows, wondering if Chiron did in fact, want to speak to her. He nodded slightly. Sakirra carefully got to her feet and picked her way past the campers and out of the hexagons of benches.

Chiron caught her eye as she approached and slowly trotted forwards. Sakirra jogged to catch up with him. He didn't even acknowledge her as she fell into step beside him, but kept heading forward. Sakirra knew he knew she was there. Why he chose not to acknowledge her was another thing all together.

The centaur's tail swished as he walked, which after a couple of metres started getting on Sakirra's nerves. She was still anxious. Anxiously awaiting whatever Chiron had in store for her. No doubt it was a punishment. A punishment for what she did to Jyn. Maybe it hadn't been nice, but after what Jyn had said so abruptly to Sakirra, Sakirra had concluded that Jyn was a horrible person.

Chiron led Sakirra to the Big House and ushered her inside. Her palms were sweaty now. She knew Chiron's punishments would be reasonable and that her actions had been unreasonable. She was toast. She probably would've fared better against the hellhounds that wouldn't die. Chiron entered the house after her. The house was eerily quiet. The only audible sound was the clip clop of Chiron's hooves on the floorboards.

That made Sakirra's nerves stand on end. It reminded her too much of the old lady who had worked at the orphanage, the sound of her heavy shoes that would echo through that building, how it meant that she was coming, an when she came, everyone knew someone was going to be caned.

Still Sakirra shuffled after the old centaur. Chiron pointed out various turns and directions to walk in to Sakirra, before they finally stopped at an elegant, mahogany door. There was no doorknob, only a small golden plate in the door, with a keyhole embedded in it.

Chiron pulled a tiny chain out of his jacket's chest pocket and stuck the puniest key Sakirra had ever seen into the small lock. The door clicked and swung open.

"This is my office," Chiron said, holding the door open for Sakirra.

Chiron's "office" was probably the most homely site Sakirra had seen in her life, but she was almost shaking with anticipation when she walked inside.

There was a velvet sofa against one wall facing a crackling fire, which was filling the room with a perfect warmth. A small table was set to the side of the sofa, two crude, clay mugs rested on the wooden surface steaming, drenching the room with a sweet aroma. The very atmosphere made Sakirra feel calmer. There was an intricate rug in the centre of the room covered in designs of people in ancient battle-armour sailing ships, fighting creatures, battling in wars and going on many other adventures.

As Chiron's hooves clopped against the wooden floorboards, the door clicked shut.

"Sit down Sakirra," he offered. Cautiously Sakirra slowly lowered herself onto the sofa. She hadn't sat on something so comfy in forever! She would've loved to have fallen asleep then and there.

Chiron trotted in front of Sakirra and swivelled around to face her. Sakirra decided that he was only standing because it must've been extremely hard to sit down with a horse's behind. She found it quite amusing to imagine him trying to squeeze his rear end onto an armchair and getting the poor furnishing stuck on his behind as he tried to stand again.

The thoughts didn't leave Sakirra smiling for long. Chiron's wizened eyes fixed their serious gaze upon Sakirra. Here came the scolding. Sakirra knew it, but she wanted to face his scolding less than she wanted his respect.

"I'm sorry I threw Jyn in a tornado!" Sakirra blurted. "She insulted my family, and everything's so new and confusing and I don't know where I should be how I should act! I'm just not used to so many people!" The words leaped out of Sakirra's mouth before she had time to register anything. Her ears felt hot. She couldn't believe she'd just said that much to an adult! A responsible adult! The sort who look over youths and decide whether or not they're worth paying any attention to! Sakirra had practically admitted that she was not a people person.

She hung her head in shame.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I just don't like Jyn very much." She sensed that her cheeks were flushing now. She tilted her head so her hair would fall in the best possible way to conceal her shame. Chiron nodded, almost as if encouraging Sakirra to say more. There was no way in Tartarus that Sakirra was going to say more. Her mouth would remain closed for the rest of the night.

When Sakirra showed no intention of speaking, Chiron opened his mouth.

"It's all fine, Sakirra," he told her. "Every demigod has a hard life, most are just at camp or deceased by the time they reach your age. I expect your life has been exceptionally challenging."

Sakirra nodded slightly. Challenges, in her life? Sakirra had too many to count. She would only call a day successful if James and herself were alive at the end of it. She wasn't sure if she could've called her past two days a success.

Chiron continued speaking. "If you would like to get your story off your chest, now would be the time to do so. I'm so old I know how to cope with nearly every problem."

_My best friend is dead,_ Sakirra thought._ You don't know how to cope with it._

"Sakirra, bottling all your emotions in won't help you. Whether you tell me, one of your fellow campers, a dryad or one of the naiads, you need to speak to someone. I can tell. Not many girls try to kill someone who speaks one ill word of their father."

Sakirra could sense Chiron's eyes still on her. Her he'd remained bowed to the ground. She knew Chiron was right. She needed to tell _someone. _She just didn't know who that was. Not even James knew about her past. She'd never told him; she'd feared that maybe he would've seen Sakirra as a less-reliable person, someone he couldn't trust, someone who was so broken by their past life that they didn't know the difference between right and wrong. She let out a small sigh as she finally raised her head to face Chiron.

"My father is the closest family I have left." Her voice sounded as if it were being subdued, like she was ready to explode with some form of rage.

Chiron's expression seemed to lighten. He _wanted _Sakirra to revisit her miserable life. "Why is that?" he inquired, "What happened to your mother."

Sakirra's hands clenched into fists. "She died." Her answer was simple, Chiron seemed to think it was too simple.

"How?" When Sakirra didn't respond for a moment, Chiron elaborated. "Sakirra, you can't blame yourself for your mother's death - you can't control where monsters foll-"

"My mother died a perfectly normal mortal death!" Sakirra blurted. She was outraged that Chiron could've thought for an instant that Sakirra would've allowed one of those creatures to get near her mother. "A car hit her. I knew automobiles were a bad idea. They're going to kill more than just my mother."

Chiron regarded Sakirra carefully. "How long ago did your mother die?"

Sakirra scowled at the centaur. "I was ten."

Chiron seemed to be thinking too deeply about everything. "Do you remember what happened afterwards?" His words sounded more like instructions rather than invitations or questions.

"Yes," Sakirra growled. She half-expected Chiron to clap his hands with delight and exclaim "do tell!" being excited by her awful past, but he only nodded, urging her to continue.

Sakirra inhaled deeply, attempting to calm her nerves before she told him - if she was even going to tell him. She didn't know if Chiron even cared about her, let alone if he wante to help her overcome it.

But the opportunity was staring Sakirra in the eye screaming for her attention. She'd been dying to get it all off her chest for years.

"After they died," Sakirra began, taking a deep breath before she continued. "My parents, my step-dad and mom, I was sent to an orphanage."

It was here that Chiron interjected, "Did your demigod powers get in the way of finding a new family."

Sakirra shook her head. "It wasn't that. _I _got in the way of finding a new family. I actually went to a couple of different homes before being dunked back at the orphanage. Monsters were following me when I went to the new homes. I didn't want anyone else to have the monsters attack them, so I always fought whenever someone wanted to adopt me." Sakirra looked to the flames flickering in the fire place. They wanted to settle about as much as Sakirra did. She'd grown accustomed to fighting whenever someone offered her a normal, before she escaped to the streets, where just getting a proper meal daily for a week was a challenge.

As Sakirra's voice stopped speaking, Chiron ruffled his beard again. "There's more to your story," he said, "tell me Sakirra, I only wish to help."

"You don't get it. I've lived a horrible life because I _made _myself have one. I deserve everything I'm getting, everything I got."

"Sophia didn't bring you from an orphanage to here. Tell me, why did you leave the orphange?"

"Some old lady told me my parents chose to leave me."

"You know she was lying."

"No," Sakirra disagreed. "I _know _she was telling the truth."

"How would you know?"

"I just do, okay?" Sakirra was beginning to sound angry, but the stupid, old horse needed to be yelled at. He refused to understand what Sakirra was saying. He assumed that there was nothing bad about Sakirra's parents, when she knew perfectly well that there were millions of flaws in them.

Chiron's demeanour remained calm, which only angered Sakirra more. "Very well then," he said. "What happened after that?"

Sakirra exhaled through gritted teeth and clenched her jaw. Talking to this overly-humble centaur was infuriating. "She told me that she would take care of me. She was going to adopt me. I didn't want to be adopted by her. I was angry that I knew she was telling me the truth, so I let my anger out."

"By running away?" Chiron asked.

"I broke the lady's spine," Sakirra growled. "I almost _killed _her. The orphanage got rid of me. They wanted to put me in another orphanage - one of those awful ones for troubled children, but I ran away before they could get to me."

Chiron nodded again. Sakirra wondered if he was actually falling asleep, but then he spoke. "Where did you go?"

Sakirra's wrath was near explosive at this stage. "I told you why I left he orphanage!" she stormed. "End of conversation!" She told Chiron that she'd almost killed someone. She wasn't going to tell him that James was gone too. She didn't want to bring James into this at all. For all she knew, he was dead. She couldn't think about him or her previous life on the streets.

Sakirra got to her feet and started towards the door, her heart pounding in her ears.

"Hold on, Sakirra," Chiron instructed. "Did I ask you to leave?" Sakirra's shoulders were twitching. She didn't want to heed the centaur's words, but she knew she'd have to. She turned to face him.

"No you didn't-" Her own mind cut herself off before she could label Chiron with horrible titles.

"Regardless of your circumstance," Chiron said, "You must be punished for what you did to Jyn. You're lucky she's leaving for a quest. She's a very influential girl, that one. You'd be getting more than a punishment from me if she was here."

_Cut to the stinking chase already, _Sakirra grumbled in her mind.

Chiron looked Sakirra in the eyes. "You will have to write an explanation for your actions to Jyn's father and be excluded from Capture the Flag on Friday night along with bonfire nights-" It didn't sound so bad to Sakirra. "_And _you will have to do washing up duty _alone_ for the week," Sakirra didn't mind cleaning, if it could get her mind off what she'd done to Jyn, she'd welcome it. "_And _you will be given day perimeter guard duty starting from tomorrow."

Sakirra recounted the list of things in her mind. It didn't sound too bad at all. She was fine with day-guard whatever duty, and cleaning. She actually enjoyed cleaning.

"Is that it?" Sakirra asked.

Chiron nodded solemnly. Sakirra got to her feet and once again reached for the doorhandle. She was determined not to be stopped by the centaur this time.

"And one more thing!" Chiron called.

Sakirra snapped her neck around quickly. "What?" she demanded.

"Jyn is Jacob's girlfriend." Chiron stated the fact plainly. Sakirra only raised an eyebrow and left, pretending not to care, when in reality, something about that statement seemed to brand depression into her heart.

She slammed the door behind her and trod down the stairs and out of the Big House.

Sakirra trudged back over to her cabin feeling absolutely miserable. After reflecting so much on her past she was certain it would replay in nightmares. There was no way any other demigod had ever felt as alone or foolish as Sakirra. Then there was that thing Chiron had said about Jacob. Had it even been necessary to say that? Sakirra didn't care anyway. There was no way she liked that one-armed deformity to any degree!

The Ω of cabins was much harder to distinguish in the darkness. Sakirra would've probably been scared alone in the dark in this unfamiliar place if she hadn't felt so lost. She'd have to wake up tomorrow. She knew that much. She had no idea how she'd survive the day though. Everyone probably thought she was crazy after Jyn.

Sakirra yawned loudly as she crossed over to the "Hermes'" cabin. Maybe that had contributed to Sakirra unexplainable actions - she hadn't slept properly in over a day, two days. She couldn't wait to get onto her small and thin mattress in that overcrowded cabin and actually have a thick quilt draped over her. That had been a luxury she hadn't had in a while.

She slowly slunk up the steps. With each step she took, the idea of sleeping was more and more inviting. She eased the cabin door open, being careful not to make it creak; most of the campers would've surely been asleep. She tip-toed into the cabin and tried to remember where her bed had been placed. With only the moonlight illuminating the cabin, Sakirra felt sure she would trip on someone.

She scanned over the silhouettes of sleeping campers, searching for her empty mattress. Most of the campers were snoring to some degree. Hearing normal people noises comforted Sakirra slightly. It was a reminder that demigods were still human, still vulnerable, still in possession of human emotions. They could break as easily as her.

Her eyes landed on a camper who seemed to have a particularly large mattress. Sakirra had to groan when she noticed why their mattress was so wide - they had two. It was obvious that the extra mattress was Sakirra's.

She bit back her tongue to avoid yelling rather loudly at the camper on her mattress. She picked her way through the maze of sleeping campers, it felt as if one wrong move would lead to death - or more like waking up an angry camper. Eventually she was standing beside her mattress and the swine of a girl who had taken it. Sakirra crouched down beside her mattress, which was quite a hard task, mind you, one wrong move and her backside would've been in a sleeping camper's face! She tried to gently roll the girl over. She didn't budge.

Sakirra gritted her teeth, thinking explicit insults towards the sleeping camper. She poked the camper hard in the ribs, waking her up gently and telling her to move couldn't do any harm. Again the girl refused to acknowledge Sakirra's presence or even stir. Sakirra put her back against the camper and using the floor to support herself, she attempted to push the camper backwards. This attempt only caused the mattresses to slide backwards.

Sakirra gave up on heaving the mattress back and dropped onto the floor with a thud that was probably too loud. Sakirra winced as she waited for campers to wake up.

Thankfully, the snoring continued. Sakirra released a sigh of relief.

The girl on Sakirra's mattress rolled over in her sleep and onto her own mattress. Sakirra ripped her mattress away from the girl, over to the mattress opposite with a kid lying fast asleep on it.

Sakirra kicked off her shoes and slid herself onto the mattress. She tugged the doona that'd been lying on the end of bed for her, over her shoulders, so that it rested just under her chin.

The quilt was so thick and warm. Sakirra loved it so much. She hadn't slept under a proper blanket in what felt like eons. She hugged the doona and rolled onto her side, lying so that her shoulder dug into the soft mattress.

She closed her eyelids and immediately started drifting. She knew that was a good sign. The snores of sleeping campers comforted her. If something bad happened they'd be able to help each other out of it.

Sakirra's heartbeat was slowing. She could feel her whole body loosen. Her breathing calmed greatly and came out in longer, louder puffs.

Sakirra could've sworn she only got a second of sleep, when the room shook.

Sakirra jolted upright, almost like James did every morning. No one else was awake.

It was probably just a hallucination, Sakirra told herself. Just one of those crazy nightmares that seem too realistic. No one else felt it!

She scanned the room. Her nerves were itching after the sudden shock. There was nothing peculiar about the room. It was safe. It had to be.

She cautiously lay back down on her mattress, but didn't readjust the quilt over her. She felt certain that something had to follow the tremor she'd sensed.

Nothing did.

Groaning within herself for her being such a worry-wart, she pulled the quilt over her head and slumped back into the mattress. Sleep was one thing she couldn't deny herself of any longer.

The ground jolted again. Sakirra tensed but tried to ignore the sudden change, she knew it was her imagination. It would pass.

The earth shook. It continued shaking. Sakirra sat upright. It wasn't her imagination this time. Most of the campers were stirring up already awake.

"What's happening?" a childish voice asked in the darkness. Someone whispered "I don't know" while more campers started talking amongst each other, chattering in fear.

"Hit the light!" a voice that could've only been Jacob's ordered. Light flooded the room piercing Sakirra's eyes. It took a couple of seconds for Sakirra's eyes to adjust. It was only then that Sakirra recognised the severity of the tremor.

The whole cabin was literally shaking. The single light globe suspended in the roof was swaying from side to side. The fibres of the walls' wood seemed to be splitting due to the force. No one was standing. Everyone was sitting upright or their mats with horrified expressions plastered onto their faces.

Jacob was surveying the cabin and muttering something to himself. The tremor ricocheted through Sakirra's body. It almost felt as if the constant pattern of her heartbeat was being altered by this quake.

Sakirra glanced around the cabin quickly and noticed a quizzical expression on Jacob's face. Something more than the earth's movement was wrong.

"WHERE'S SOPHIA!?" Jacob yelled. His voice was one of a natural leader; it was obvious he was the cabin counsellor. The muttering ceased. Jacob opened his mouth to continue, but he was cut off.

If the random vibrating of the very earth wasn't enough to scare someone, what came next would've done it. With the consistent echoing of the heavy footsteps of hundreds of men or creatures somewhere out there, breaking into Sakirra's ears, she was even more scared. He was told Camp was safe. The footsteps didn't sound safe. It sounded like an army was coming. An army with enough force to make even the earth tremble. There was no questioning their formidability.

Jacob sprung to his feet and scampered through the thin aisle between the mattresses.

"Get your weapons!" Jacob commanded. Sakirra was shaking with fear. She didn't even have a weapon to use. She was cold, with shock, with anticipation, with horror. She was sure she was going to be murdered.

The majority of the campers dug under their mattresses or beside their beds for their weapons, others refused to collect theirs. Everyone was terrified. This wasn't an everyday event at Camp Half-Blood.

The vibrating ground was quaking heavier. Whatever was approaching with all those feet, people, and monsters - it was getting closer. It was coming to camp.

Even if the earth wasn't shaking Sakirra would've found it hard enough to stand up. She was quivering from head to toe. Admittedly, she felt ready to cry. All she wanted was to sleep! Was that too much to ask? She clambered to her feet and struggled to maintain her balance. Other campers were attempting to stand also.

Almost everyone was clinging to the walls to keep steady, everyone looking equally horrified. Some older girls took upon themselves a mother-like responsibility and scooped up one of the younger campers and still managed to stand. All of the younger kids were crying. Silent tears were streaming down their faces. Everything was all too unusual for anyone to comprehend.

Then, amidst the constant thudding of thousands of earth-shaking footsteps, came a second dreadful noise. Shrieks, screams, terrifying war-cries tore through the air. Inhumane hisses and laughter rattled everyone's core more than the unsteady ground. The screams were afar off, but they were loud. Millions of voices, yelling as one, fast approaching. Merciless shouts destroyed any peace remaining.

Sakirra covered her ears with her arms and closed her eyes to try and block the situation out. Panic was coming into play. Nothing was audible. Nothing but those demonic shrieks surely coming to end them. Sakirra felt cold. Her heart was frozen. Her body tense with fear.

The cries lingered in the air. Unceasing, bloodthirsty, furious. They were determined.

A flash of lime green burst through even Sakirra's eyelids, and for an instant, a magnificent BOOM drowned out the war-inspired yells. The cabin shook even more violently. Something needed to happen.

Sakirra could feel her pulse racing as she pressed her wrists into her ears. She wanted nothing more than to wake up from this awful nightmare. She was more terrified than she'd ever been in her life.

A moist hand grabbed Sakirra's arms. Sakirra opened her eyes and almost squealed in fear. Instead she stifled it into a whimper. A girl only a year older than Sakirra was trying to drag Sakirra out of the cabin. Most of the other campers were leaving too. Everyone was walking slowly, striving to stay upright in all the commotion.

Sakirra took her wrists away from her ears and immediately regretted it. The shouts were so loud that they made Sakirra's ears ring. Nothing would ever be heard.

As she made unsteady steps outside, she saw that all the campers were congregating in the centre of the Ω. All had their weapons drawn. One cabin had a giant hole in it, its roof caved in and its walls demolished. The cabin was flickering with green light.

Only moonlight lit the area. It was very dim, near impossible to distinguish anything. Sakirra's lungs were losing the will to take in air. Screams were still rebounding through her head. No one could describe just how horrible those cries were. Sakirra knew she would be scarred forever.

The ground was still trembling beneath her feet, making each step a challenge. She jogged towards the circle where all the campers were gathering, preparing to face the foe which was coming upon them.

Someone caught Sakirra's legs. She was ready to hit them. She was so scared; she felt the only safe place was amongst the other campers. Someone had interfered with her getting there, she wanted to kick them.

Sakirra looked down and saw that it was the quivering form of Denis, his head pressed into Sakirra's thigh. She could feel his tears seeping through the fabric of her trousers. Denis was shaking. He was so obviously panic-stricken, it melted Sakirra's heart.

She gently brushed Denis's hair with her fingers, regardless of how much she was shivering herself. She knelt down and hugged the young boy. Denis wrapped his arms around Sakirra's neck and sobbed into her shoulder. He sounded so pained. Everything was so blood-chilling. Denis's tears were the things that cracked Sakirra.

Water stung at her eyes, but she couldn't blink it away.

"It's okay," she whispered to Denis. She could feel her voice breaking. She couldn't hear it. No one could. Those daunting screams still hadn't broken their rhythm.

"It's okay," Sakirra sobbed. She hugged Denis closer, infinitely thankful for the comfort the warmth of another human being could bring her. She lifted him into the air and stumbled towards the assembly of campers.

She pushed into the cluster of campers. They seemed such a weak group. All women or young children. None of them were warriors. None of them were meant to be. Many of the girls were holding younger children in their arms, trying to calm them down, but really, it was impossible for anything to be calm with a storm of noise raging so closely.

Denis wiped his nose on Sakirra's sleeve, but she didn't care. She was so worried for her life, for his life, that it hurt. Denis shouted something, but Sakirra couldn't discern the words. She only hugged him tighter.

A glowing orb of green flew overhead and crashed into another cabin. The cabin exploded with bright green fire. Campers screamed in horror. Sakirra could understand why. This was their home, it was being destroyed.

Another three green orbs soared into cabins, showering the camper in green sparks and tearing apart buildings with massive BOOMs. Sakirra was sucked into a void of déjà vu. The green balls of fire invoked a strange sense in her mind. It was important. Something important.

The shouts of the approaching army grew more intense, causing Sakirra's soul to sink into hopelessness.

More green flares were shot at cabins. BOOM BOOM BOOM! Each exploded separately. Each made Sakirra cringe. Each made Denis hug Sakirra tighter and tighter. Each made all the campers more depressed as their homes were reduced to ashen powder.

A great shadow melted into view on the horizon. The shadow surrounded the area that was once a street of cabins. The shrieking voices were more intense than ever. The ground gradually ceased to quake (that didn't stop the campers from doing so).

Denis still clutched Sakirra's neck. He put his head near Sakirra's ear and whimpered something. This time Sakirra could decipher his words.

"Make the scary noises go away."

The boy was so frightened. He was shaking vigorously against Sakirra. She bit back her lip to stay strong for Denis. She knew she could do nothing to comfort him. Her arms were already aching from holding him for so long, but under the circumstances, Sakirra would've guarded the innocent soul for eternity.

Without warning, the shrieking died down. Denis loosened his grip on Sakirra, but his face was still moist with tears. Then it was dreadful silence that consumed the camp.

Something was coming. Something powerful enough to create the ruckus it had.

Denis was whimpering into Sakirra's shoulder. Her arms were numb from holding him, they were hurting, but she ignored it. She would protect Denis with her life.

"WELCOME COMMRADES!" The voice that screeched through the silence was an echoing hiss. It clung to the silence and burned in everyone's minds.

"TO CAMP HALF-BLOOD!"

An earth-shattering roar of excitement emitted from the silhouette encasing the cabin grounds. Denis looked up at Sakirra with trembling lips.

"Are they going to kill us?" the boy asked.

Sakirra shook her head, but even she didn't believe her response. "No. No, they won't."

"TONIGHT-" the voice from before continued, breaking through the tumultuous cheers of the army. "THIS CAMP WILL PERISH!" The roar restarted, even greater and more terrible than the last time. "NONE WILL SURVIVE THIS NIGHT!"

"FOR TERRA DEAMON!" a new voice chided, though this one was gravelly but overjoyed.

"TERRA DEAMON!" That was the final war-cry that shattered the spirits of every camper awaiting their fate. Those words were shouted with such force, such pride, such belief, they were worse than the first screams the army had unsheathed.

Shouting broke out again. The cries of "Terra Daemon" dwindled into fear invoking screams. The silhouettes started shifting. The ground resumed its pulsing.

Then the agonised cry of a camper filled the air. A battle was upon them.

Campers screamed a name and everyone entered a fully-fledge panic mode. Sakirra's muscles tense and her blood turned to ice. The camp wasn't safe.

With Denis still clinging to her Sakirra ran forwards. She could feel her own heartbeat against the child's body. She felt as if she had to save both of them.

Orange flames licked up the remains of a cabin, causing flickering light to dance through the scene. Campers had scattered from their circle. As Sakirra surveyed the area quickly, she saw that they were surrounded. This camp was destined to fall.

Monsters of every crude form and variety were closing in. One monster was already upon the campers, it was taking a whole ten campers to try and fend the fiend away. The monsters were everywhere, they were innumerable! There was no escaping the circle they'd formed around the campers. They were going to die.

A dracnae sprinted towards Sakirra's side. Fear gripped Sakirra and adrenaline set in. She dropped Denis on the ground and concentrated on the winds in the area. Even with the constant shakes of the Earth, Sakirra managed to conjure a gust of wind that forced the dracnae backwards.

She turned urgently to Denis.

"Do you have a weapon?" Sakirra asked.

Denis handed Sakirra a small sword, only half of Denis's height. He gazed up at Sakirra with wide, scared eyes. The son of Athena had no idea what was going on, but he seemed to know what the outcome would be. Sakirra took the hilt of Denis's sword with her right hand and took Denis's hand in her left.

She sprinted forwards, she didn't know where she was going, she just knew that she had to break free from the enemy's ranks. That's what all the other campers were attempting to do.

A number of them were trying to break through one line of enemy ranks. You could see all their forms attacking each other.

Denis stumbled along beside Sakirra. She could feel his pulse racing. She could hear screams of campers in every direction. To her great surprise, there was no hint of any monster being harmed, no specks of golden dust racing through the air, no howls of wounded beasts hungry for revenge.

That thought almost made Sakirra's heart stop. It was just like the hellhounds. The ones that had cost James his life.

Fear no longer flowed through Sakirra's veins - it was rage. She was thirsty for revenge. These were the same spawn that had killed James. She couldn't call herself James's friend if she didn't avenge him.

She released Denis's wrist and charged at an oncoming manticore. With only Denis's knife, she sliced at the manticore's face, only managing to scratch it. She stabbed down into the manticore's eyes and it released an angered roar. It whipped its tail into the air and three bursts of air streamed just past Sakirra's ears. The manticore lashed at Sakirra with its claws, threatening to tear the girl apart. Sakirra ducked out of the way and stabbed her blade into its abdomen.

Nothing happened. There wasn't even a slight reaction this time. Her efforts were exhausting herself more than the beast.

The manticore locked its eyes back on Sakirra. She hated manticore's so. It had such a humanoid face, that Sakirra felt as if she would be murdering another human being, but then its body was so mutated, as if a lion and a scorpion had birthed a child together. Ugly.

The manticore growled quietly. Sakirra backed off, tearing her blade out of its body. The manticore slashed Sakirra's left arm with its claws. Sakirra _heard_ her skin tear before she felt it. As white-hot pain seared through her body, she unsheathed a cry of agony. The pain made it impossible for her to feel anything in her left arm. She could hear her blood dripping into the grass. Her right hand gripped Denis's knife so hard that her own nails cut into her flesh. Anything to distract her from her immense pain.

"SAKIRRA!" Denis shrieked. Sakirra, panting, glanced at the manticore, who was readying itself to pounce, and scampered backwards like a wounded animal. She clenched her teeth and bit down hard. Pain was the only thing she was registering. She arrived at Denis's side again and the boy's eyes widened in fear.

"Are you going to die?" he asked her, his voice quaking. Sakirra couldn't answer, her chest was heaving for each breath it could possibly get. She felt as if her mind was floating some place a million miles away. Everything seemed cloudy. Denis stared on in horror.

"NO!" he stormed. "Don't be hurt Saki!" His tear-stained face was utterly terrified. He thought Sakirra was destined to die that night. Sakirra longed to help the kid, to push him away from her, away from the camp, somewhere where he'd be safe. He was so innocent. He'd shouldn't have had to witness what horrors he did that night.

Denis snatched up his blade (which looked more like a sword in his hands) and looked around the battlefield anxiously. He looked down at Sakirra with pleading eyes. Sakirra knew too well that the child was lost. He didn't have any idea of what to do. As his guide crouched in the grass groaning in obvious torment, while monsters drew nearer on all sides.

She reached out gingerly with her uninjured arm.

"Denis," she breathed, climbing back up to her feet. Denis didn't notice her voice. He was running towards a hellhound, slicing his sword through the air. His distraction was fatal - he didn't notice the monster coming at his right side.

Sakirra tackled Denis into the dirt, hurting both of them on impact. She ripped his sword out from under him and sprung back to her feet, ready to kill the monster who had threatened them. Sakirra stared back at the hellhound. This was her last night. She was going to die. She tried to twist Denis's blade into the monster's wrist in desperation. Perspiration dripped down her face. Surely there was something she could do to escape. Surely she wasn't going to die that night. Or maybe she was just one of the unlucky ones. One of the people who don't come out of battle alive. The one who has to have a letter sent home to say she won't be coming back.

She closed her eyes shut and awaited the death blow. She was so scared it actually hurt. She was shivering against the hellhound's crushing weight, digging her deeper into the grass. Her ribs were burning with strain. Breathing seemed an impossible task.

She gave a silent prayer in hope that Denis wasn't watching. If she was going to die she didn't want Denis watching. The kid didn't need to witness any more than he had, even that was too much for an eight year old.

The wait was what scared her more than the thought of death. The hellhound seemed to spend an eternity staring down at her with dripping fangs and empty eyes. Its claws dug into her skin. Beads of blood mingled with that of sweat were covering her arms and shoulders.

"End it," Sakirra whimpered. The hound released a quiet growl.

"NOT ANOTHER ONE!" a girl's voice stormed. The hellhound lightened its weight on Sakirra, almost as if he was curious about something else.

There was a more violent rumble from the Earth. Water smashed down onto Sakirra's face, arms, legs, everywhere. She was soaked. She spat the cold water from her mouth and noticed something. The hellhound wasn't on top of her. She slowly sat up and looked down at herself. She was covered in some sort of clay-like gunk.

Sakirra raised her eyes back to the battlefield - there was no sign of the hellhound anywhere. A girl beside Sakirra with a head with a tangled mess of long black hair hoisted Sakirra to her feet. Something told Sakirra that this girl had just saved her life.

"How in Zeus's name did you do that?!" Sakirra practically yelled her.

The girl shrugged.

That was fair enough. Points for acting on instinct though.

"What's your name?" Sakirra asked the girl.

"Amaya," the girl responded. "Holy Poseidon - that's an angry mutant person!" The girl was staring at something over Sakirra's shoulder, before she turned and sprinted away.

Sakirra followed the girl's gaze and saw something crazy. She'd never seen a monster like it. It was almost as if a chimera had been mixed with a human. It was near impossible to describe. Parts human, parts chimera. A human head was breathing fire!

After Sakirra saw that she didn't stay long. She retreated back to where the campers had congregated before, panting in exhaustion, clinging to Denis's blade like a life-line. She was eternally thankful that at least her lungs were able to get air in and out of them freely now.

_Denis._ The name fluttered into Sakirra's mind for an instant and millions of thoughts exploded in her mind.

_Is he okay? Where is he? He's unarmed! He can't be safe! What have I done?_

Her lungs stopped the usual intake of air and went back into panic-mode. The whole battle was too much to take in at once. So many sounds - war cries, unearthly screams, tormented shrieks, the constant rumble of footsteps. It made Sakirra's head spin. She couldn't grasp any of it. She was jittery and nervous beyond extremes.

She felt like falling to her knees and lying numb. She wanted all the stress to just leave! It was freaking her out. She doubted her heart would ever regain a constant rate.

"Sakirra?" a voice asked.

She whipped around to face the speaker - Jacob. She was partially glad her heart couldn't sink any further into despair.

"Sakirra," he panted running towards her, his sole arm hefting a giant mace. He slowed to a stop as he neared her, landing his stare straight in Sakirra's eyes. His looked terrified. Blood was smeared across his face, his mouth hung open with a look of misery, his eyes were wide with horror.

"Can you do that tornado thing again?" he asked, his voice pleading.

Sakirra didn't know how to answer. She didn't was too answer. Her whole body was so jittery and distracted; she didn't believe she could create a tornado. Focussing now would be far too challenging. She didn't want to let Jacob down either.

"I don't think so," she finally said, her voice cracking. Jacob appeared even more depressed as she said that. He turned to the ground and frowned.

He nodded slightly. "Okay," he said, but it was far from okay. He drew a sharp breath in and continued away from Sakirra. Her head was spinning so much, she couldn't have cared less.

Sakirra stepped backwards and ran in the opposite direction. There was less fighting there. It was safer. She could possibly escape this battlefield and survive the night. That thought made her heart swell with relief. The constant open-mouthed expression of fear on her face even left for a second.

That all changed in a matter of moments.

"AGGGHHHHH!" The shriek seared its way into Sakirra's mind, never would it leave again.

Denis's voice. He was in trouble and defenceless. She had to help him. There was no other option.

Sakirra flew in the direction the cry had come from; using all the might the air had to push her onwards. She unsheathed a roar of fierce anger, hoping that whoever was daring to hurt Denis heard, and fled.

Denis's voice screamed again. It was louder - closer, but more pained. Something was wrong.

Sakirra pursued the voice. She knew for sure that her heart rate wouldn't recover now.

"DENIS!" she screamed. "DENIS!" She sounded awful. Her voice was cracked, angry and scared. Emotions like that don't mix well.

She heard his voice again. She dodged her way through small battles. Fear couldn't hold her back.

She tore through the scene. To her great surprise, Denis wasn't within the circle of monsters attacking the cabin grounds. That only scared her more. The monster had dragged their prey away. Denis was a meal.

Sakirra clumsily boosted herself with the winds over the ranks of monsters, landing unbalanced on the outer rim of the battle.

It was so much darker without the glow of the burning cabins. All the cries were directed into the battle, making the sound surrounding Sakirra hollow. Everything was suddenly very eerie.

Sakirra's body tightened. She took a stiff step forwards into the darkness. She could barely see anything. The Earth's tremors were much less severe in this area. That was somewhat unsettling.

"AGGGGGHHHH!" Denis's tortured voice rang through Sakirra's mind again. She clenched in fear. He was so close.

She cautiously walked towards the source of the screams. Every inch of her was shaking. It wasn't right. Nothing that night was right. She was feeling nauseated. Her stomach was churning itself contents.

Her foot crunched against leaves as she made her way to Denis's voice. The moonlight made everything near invisible.

Sakirra noticed a silhouette lying helplessly in the ground. She couldn't help but release a cry of relief.

"Denis!" She felt so much lighter. She soared over the grass to crouch beside her friend. He was that spark that ignited the fires of hope in Sakirra's mind.

Denis's response did not reflect the newfound relief Sakirra had found in any way.

"Saki?" His voice sounded pained, in fact, it sounded as if the boy was crying. He was hyperventilating. Every short breath he took sounded strained. Dread leaked its way back into Sakirra.

She looked over Denis, sprawled in the grass, details near impossible to perceive in the darkness. Gingerly, Sakirra brushed his arm. That's how she realised what was wrong. His arm was moist. Not with sweat, this liquid-like substance was thicker than sweat.

_Blood._

When Sakirra turned down to Denis again, she could've sworn she saw something completely different to what she'd been looking at instants prior.

White - that had been the colour of Denis's shirt when he'd run into her at the beginning of the battle. A thick, red stain was recolouring the boy's top. A dark tear was in the centre of it - inches from his heart. Blood was pouring out of the wound in his chest. His face was also painted with blood, a deep gash scarring his forehead.

An overwhelming vexation flooded Sakirra's mind. The wound was fatal. Denis was dying. She couldn't let Denis die. James was dead. Denis couldn't die.

She pressed her hands against the wound over his sternum, trembling with horror and determination. Blood oozed against the bottom of her palms. Her efforts pointless.

"No," Sakirra whispered. "No. No. No. No!" She stared desperately at Denis's face. His shallow breaths turned into hollow gasps for air that were left unsatisfied. He started panicking. The boy knew he was dying.

Tears broke through Sakirra's eyes. Denis began whimpering with each inhalation. He was shaking under extreme palpitation.

"Shhhh," Sakirra hushed. "It's okay," she soothed. "It's okay Denis-" her voice wavered. "It's okay. You're alright. It's okay. You're okay." She wanted the words to be true, but she knew they weren't.

Denis started quaking worse than the ground had been before.

"It's okay Denis!" Sakirra's voice was panicked now, so panicked she sounded as if she was yelling. Denis's breathing began to subside.

"No," Sakirra breathed. She pushed her hands deeper against Denis's wound. "NO! DENIS!" Her cries transformed from breaths into sobs. She felt helpless, alone. Nothing was okay.

With trembling hands, Sakirra brushed Denis's hair from his face. She could feel the thick, moist blood covering his brow. It couldn't be true. He wasn't dead. So suddenly in her life, so suddenly gone.

Everything was cold. Tears streamed down Sakirra's face as she leant over Denis's body. Grief was setting in. Whatever creature had wounded Denis so much that he had died, would be tortured. Sakirra wouldn't let them die. She wanted them to live an eternal life of misery. The monster would never return to Hades. Never.

Sakirra choked on another sob, biting back her jaw. She took a sharp breath and let out a cry of grief, of mourning, of every undesireable emotion she possessed. She sounded pained. She was pained.

Everything seemed so pointless. Even innocent children were dying in these times of war. The next generation, the hopes for the world to move on, to evolve, to escape the Earth's constant conflicts were perishing. Hope was being destroyed.

Sakirra retched violently. Her stomach clenched and she dry heaved a second time. Denis was gone. James was gone. Where was the point in her life? Her trials so many when opposed to those few times when she'd ever felt happiness.

A breeze past her head caught Sakirra's attention. She knelt straighter. Her body tensed even more. Cold. That's all she felt. Everything was cold.

"Leave my victim, scum," a voice hissed. Sakirra didn't bother turning to face it. The words etched themselves into her skull.

"I doubt you want to watch me devour the boy." The voice was female - youthful even. "If you stay, I'll have you second." The voice was being emtted right behind Sakirra's head.

_My victim, devour the boy. _The words arose in Sakirra's mind. _Victim._ This was the voice of the person who had killed Denis.

Sakirra's hand hovered above the grass, brushing Denis's sword's hilt. The i=owner of that voice was going to suffer.

Sakirra snatched up the sword and pounced on the person behind her, stabbing her knife forwards. A creature hissed loudly, as blood spurted against Sakirra's hand and the blade made contact with flesh. Sakirra forced the blade downwards further, ignoring the constant hisses from her opponent. Her opponent struggled against the blade, trying to escape Sakirra's range.

A grunt left Sakirra's lips as she shoved the blade into the soil beneath her opponent. Something dug into Sakirra's arm, unhealthily like teeth. She jerked her arm away from the teeth of her rival and sprung to her feet, digging the blade into the ground with her foot.

The voice of Denis's killer screamed, not out of pain but rage. As Sakirra glared down at her rival, she felt a strange sense of satisfaction crawl through her. A girl, only seventeen at the most, returned Sakirra's glare. Denis's knife was embedded in the girl's thigh, it was a wonder she wasn't shrieking in agony.

The girl bared abnormally long canines at Sakirra, hissing menacingly. Her skin was so pale, it was near translucent. Long, long, dark hair draped down the girl's face. A set of glowing, grey eyes were giving Sakirra a stare burning with hatred.

"You killed Denis," Sakirra seethed.

"I can relieve _you _of you miserable life too," the girl seethed.

Sakirra didn't respond. Tears were still pouring down her face.

"You can't kill me," the girl jeered. "Release me while you can. The battle isn't here yet, but they'll come, they must destroy the _whole _camp. If you leave me and run now, you can survive the night."

"I'm making the deals," Sakirra spat. "_I _don't have a knife in my thigh."

The girl frowned at Sakirra. "Don't you want to live."

"Oh, don't you worry about me," Sakirra said. "Justice will be sweet." Sakirra had such belief behind her words. She couldn't wait to punish this girl for her crimes.

"I'll stop worrying when you leave the camp."

"You'll be leaving with me."

Shock overcame the girl's collected expression. She quickly straightened her face again. "My men will kill you."

"They won't find me. No one will find me."

"You can't hide from the Lord of Time." The girl smitked up at Sakirra.

_Kronos. _

"He's not around anymore," Sakirra said.

"He's not," the girl sighed, her grey eyes flashing with a glint of anticipation.

Sakirra scowled again at her enemy. There was clearly sonething more about Kronos she was thinking. If Kronos was in any way, this fiend's idol or role model, Sakirra wanted her suffering. No one, no one in the world should ever seek to take the life of an innocent child.

Sakirra slid the blade in the girl's thigh upwards. The girl started wincing in pain. How she'd withstood so much already was a mystery to Sakirra, but she was glad the girl was feeling pain now.

"What's your name?" Sakirra demanded.

The girl gritted her teeth. "Ebony," she growled in a tone of utter loathing.

"Ebony," Sakirra repeated, with just as much hatred. "Shame you'll be dead after your journey." She shot a deadly scowl at the girl, Ebony again. Her heart pounded with anger, with a lust for revenge on Ebony. She'd taken Denis; parts of the army she was working with had clearly taken James.

Sakirra felt no compassion for Ebony. She yearned to drive Denis's blade through Ebony's cruel heart. James was dead. Denis was dead. There was nothing left to drive Sakirra, no reason for her life. What she had lived to protect was dead.

Sadness burned inside her. Her tears dripped from her face and mingled with the blood on her hands. Empty. That's what she was. A vacuum. She only wanted to take revenge. She longed for power over death. To be Death's master. Keep it from its fruel ways.

With tears still flowing from her eyes and a gaping hole in her heart, Sakirra turned back to Denis's lifeless form, the sign that hope for this mortal race was gone, that hope for Sakirra was non-existent, and whispered, "You will be avenged."

* * *

><p><strong>I took far too long to get that chapter up, I apologise. Please review, (we want 50!) and answer the follwing: <strong>

**What were your thoughts on Jacob and Denis? What sort of connection do you think Sakirra felt toward both of them? **

**Was there anything, anything at all that you disliked in this chapter? **

**Did the ending seem rushed? **

**What was the highlight of this chapter for you? **

**So, thanks again for reading! **

**Next Chapter: Nico, Bianca & Sam! REVIEW! Please! :D**


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